Giftedness in popular culture

Zelbo, Sian. "The Rise of Egalitarianism and the Privatization of Giftedness in America (1960-1984)." The International Group for Mathematical Creativity and Giftedness Newsletter, no. 24 (March 2025): 10. Link.

This article examines the transformation of American attitudes toward gifted education from 1960 to 1984, documenting a shift from viewing giftedness as a public resource to conceptualizing it as a private commodity. During the Cold War, gifted education was understood as a national asset, with public schools expected to identify and nurture talented students. However, the rise of egalitarian philosophy during the Civil Rights era fundamentally challenged this approach. As federal courts struck down discriminatory academic sorting practices and public discourse increasingly viewed gifted programs as elitist, many public schools retreated from gifted education. This institutional abdication created a vacuum filled by private markets offering educational products and services targeting gifted children. Through analysis of advertisements and media discourse, the article traces how giftedness was reconceptualized from a collective responsibility to a purchasable advantage for families with means. This transformation reveals the consequences of public institutions' reluctance to address diverse student needs, ultimately allowing private markets to reshape both access to gifted education and public understanding of giftedness itself.