CHILD PRODIGIES: TOO MUCH TOO YOUNG?
Friday 9 September 2005 1.25am-2.05am (Thurs night)
Does labelling a child as "gifted" do more harm than good? Time Shift looks at how brilliant and talented kids challenge our thinking about education and the place of children in society.
DIRECTOR INTERVIEW John Das
"I was interested in what culturally they seemed to represent"
VIDEO CLIP Teach your child to recognise dictators
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CONTRIBUTORS
Mary Ann Sieghart - former gifted child (now assistant editor of The Times)
Professor Joan Freeman - psychologist and expert on gifted children
Andrew Collins - writer, broadcaster and former gifted child
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Tom Ware
Time Shift Series Editor
You could say that gifted children have held a fascination for Western society since Jesus spoke out in the temple. From Mozart to Ruth Lawrence, their achievements - and their rather odd relationships with adults - have been well-documented. John Das' fascinating Time Shift goes beyond the usual catalogue of wunderkinds and hothousing to try to understand why some children get labelled with the "G-word" and how this tag can be a double-edged one.
For me, one of the documentary's most impressive facts is how culture-specific the whole idea of giftedness is. Through the insight of Joan Freeman, who has spent over 30 years studying gifted children, we learn that in countries like Japan it's willingness to work hard rather than the suggestion of potential that gives children privileged status. And it comes as no surprise that it's in America, where education standards generally are lower than in most developed countries, that giftedness is given its greatest credence.
