Yesterday an identified Gifted student of mine, who is insanely intelligent, came up to me near the end of the day and posed this scenario and question…
“Visualize a red apple. This apple is the most intensely bright and shiny red apple you have ever seen. No other apple compares to this one. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest score, what number would you rate this apple?”
My answer was simple, “10.”
My student’s shoulders slumped with slightly bowed head, and then let out a soft groan of frustration. When I asked if there was anything ‘wrong’ with my answer the student replied “Well no!, I can’t imagine rating it any more than a 2.” My student then walked away in a cloud of self-disappointment.
Since it was at the end of the day, and the question was irrelevant to anything we were learning, I didn’t pursue. But it did get me to think and wonder where such a seemingly irrelevant question stems from, and how this comes into play with my student’s mindset at the time.
I was left with many unanswered questions. The human psyche is far more complex than we can even imagine, or give credit towards. Simply astonishing!
Petdad 