By  Po Bronson

…Since Thomas could walk, he has heard constantly that he’s smart. Not just from his parents but from any adult who has come in contact with this precocious child. When he applied to Anderson for kindergarten, his intelligence was statistically confirmed. The school is reserved for the top one percent of all applicants, and an IQ test is required. Thomas didn’t just score in the top one percent. He scored in the top one percent of the top one percent.

But as Thomas has progressed through school, this self-awareness that he’s smart hasn’t always translated into fearless confidence when attacking his schoolwork. In fact, Thomas’s father noticed just the opposite. �Thomas didn’t want to try things he wouldn’t be successful at,� his father says. �Some things came very quickly to him, but when they didn’t, he gave up almost immediately, concluding, �I’m not good at this.’ � With no more than a glance, Thomas was dividing the world into two�things he was naturally good at and things he wasn’t.

To read the full article, click here. 

I also highly recommend this author’s book, Nurture Shock.  See purchase book see link on our resources page.

- yalda