Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds (Hardcover)

It is "weak", not "week". In addition, I want to add that there are times it takes people who are NOT a part of the normal process to see and improve the process from the outside. Most great inventors were from "the outside" looking in. To be required to have "an educator" attached to their book infers they have nothing to contribute unless it contains the normal educational myopia of someone who is a part of the system.

In every sport, field, discipline of life, there are always innovators -- and many come from without. One of my personal favorites was Bill Boomer, a man who became a swim coach (with no prior swimming or swim coaching experience) and turned the entire swimming world upside down with his theories and methods. Now everyone is learning to swim his way. In drumming, ONE drummer changed the grip for just about every other drummer out there. J.K Rowling took the publishing world by storm with no "industry" experience. And I could go on.

Your ONE star review of an excellent book is not justified in the least -- it is an EXCELLENT book. I really wonder what your real intent was with your review...

However, the book falls short and has week argumentation. I believe the major cause of this shortfall is that the authors, as prolific as they might be, do not have a background in education. They should have cowritten with someone who would have the background knowledge and training to make their argument more cohesive and persuasive. The authors lack a basic understanding of human social and cognitive development, and for that reason fail to realize that children's academic needs are only one need and only one reason for their being in school.

Should all children be challenged all the time? Yes. Do I provide for this in my classroom? Yes. Children routinely do differentiated work and 'projects,' and this allows me more classroom time to confer with learners who need me - both below and above level students. Teachers ARE trained to do this on order to be certified.

But the book simply falls short. As a gifted child, I was often depressed and lacked friends, and being accelerated did nothing to solve that. Kids need SO much more than just "harder work." There are distinct social and emotional needs these kids have, and I wish the book wouldn't have consisted of saying the idea "kids should be accelerated" 1,000 times in 1,000 different ways.

The book was boring and tedious. The best part was the end. Please don't waste your money. The book does nothing to help educators or parents.

As for the reviewer who said, "Also, although the Davidsons would like to ignore it, the most literate society in the world, Denmark, offers no special offerings to its gifted students." True, but Denmark has not dummied down their schools. WE HAVE.