Why gifted children are just as likely to fail in life



Talented: But just three per cent of children considered 'gifted' go on to fulfil their potential in later life

Exceptionally talented children are just as likely to fail in life as succeed according to a new study.

In one of the most extensive studies carried out, research found that out of 210 gifted children followed into later life, only three per cent were found to fulfil their early promise.

Professor Joan Freeman, said that of 210 children in her study, 'maybe only half a dozen might have been what we might consider conventionally successful.'

'At the age of six or seven, the gifted child has potential for amazing things, but many of them are caught in situations where their potentials is handicapped.'

Professor Freeman tracked the development of children who had exceptional ability in fields such as maths, art or music from 1974 to the present day.

Many of those who failed to excel did so because the 'gifted' children were treated and in some cases robbed of their childhood, the study found.

In some cases pushy parents put the children under too much pressure, or they were separated from their peer group, so they ended up having few friends.

The research findings follow a decision earlier this year to scrap a £20million National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth set up by the government eight years ago.

While meant to aid high achievers in state schools, it was considered to have failed to live up to its intended purpose.

Professor Freeman is keen to emphasise that 'the gifted' are no more emotionally fragile than anyone else - and may even have 'greater emotional strength.'

But she said that 'being gifted means being better able to deal with things intellectually but not always emotionally.'

She adds: 'I want to stress that the gifted are normal people. But they face special challenges, especially unreal expectations, notably being seen as strange and unhappy.

'Others such as parents and teachers, can feel threatened by them and react with put-downs. What they need is acceptance for who they are, appropriate opportunities to develop their potential and reliable moral support.'

An example of a child prodigy who failed to achieve early promise includes Andrew Halliburton, who studied maths at secondary school level at the age of eight.



capitalise on his early promise and ended up working in McDonalds



He quit university and ended up working at a McDonald's burger restaurant, although he now plans to return to study.

Other examples of the differing paths gifted children can take is illustrated by Anna Markland and Jocelyn Lavin, who both started at Chetham's school of music, in Manchester on the same day at 11.

Success and failure: Child music prodigy Anna Markland went on to become a professional musician. However Andrew Halliburton, a maths prodigy, could not capitalise on his early promise and ended up working at a McDonalds restaurant



Markland, now 46, from Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, went on to be the BBC Young Musician of the Year, 1982. She went on to study music at Oxford, did two years postgraduate study, and now is a profesional musician, which for her is 'the best job in the world.'

By contrast, her friend Jocelyn turned her back on music to pursue science, and got the best A-level grades of all 210 children in the study - six A grades.

But after going to University College London at 17 she failed her finals in Maths and Astronomy and left without a degree.

After 20 years as a school maths teacher she has resigned, and her home is under threat of repossession because of mortgage arrears.

She said: 'I didn't know what I wanted to do, apart from go into space', she said in the book.

Part of the problem for the gifted, Professor Freeman says, is that often the gifted excel in many areas - and may have to try out several things before they settle in one discipline.

Ultimately attempts to 'hothouse' children will fail if they are put under enormous pressure to perform.

She writes: 'The pleasures and creativity of childhood are the basis of all great work. Take childhood away from children.'

