American educators have recently been showing an increasing awareness of the existence of the gifted child. No longer is he dismissed merely as another “deviate”—albeit a “fortunate” one. Instead, we now hear of high-level conferences, stirring calls to action and glowing promises of special counselling, aptitude tests, enrichment programs and multi-track systems to take care of our bright youngsters.
Amid all this hubbub, one vital fact is almost completely ignored, namely, the virtual extinction of the generations-old practice of gradeskipping. In former years, the child judged by his teachers as capable of doing more advanced work was allowed to skip a grade. A few years later, the child still mentally ahead of his class might be moved up another grade. As a rule there was little skipping of grades in high school where the study of literature, foreign languages, mathematics and science could more easily absorb wide ranges of ability.
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