Many ‘smart’ kids never learn how to learn. At first, it comes too easy, and then when challenge comes, they do not know what to do. Learning how to conceptualize multiple solutions and then implement one without decision paralysis (and especially letting them know this means multiple iterations until the best solution is found) would help a lot of people.
False expectations on brain power are no match for hard work and persistence. It is not those with better tools that are successful in life – but those who put what they do have to best use. It is a good thing to be intelligent. To like thinking. To be capable of understanding things easily. To connect ideas out in out of the box and creative ways. However, unless these abilities can be harnessed by the possessor, they are as useless as an unplugged super computer or sportscar without fuel.
Cultivate intelligence and a love of learning, but compliment kids on their effort, especially repeated effort until success. It is a better result to get a ‘B’ in math and truly understand the concepts and be able to apply them in real-word situations, than to get an ‘A’ on the examples and textbook problems on a standardized test.
XristarDesigns :blog 