When I was growing up, I excelled in school. I still do now in my final year of college. It is undeniable that my success in school is partially due to the fact that I am diligent at putting substance into my assignments and responsible with completing assignments on time. But, most of the time, I do not have to work too hard to get good grades and if I did I knew that I did not need to do so. Many different people in my life- parents, sisters, friends, bosses, acquaintances, etc.- have remarked that I was smart or gifted. But I always just shrugged off the compliments because I am uncomfortable with receiving compliments, I was trying to be modest and I never really believed in “being gifted.”

A month ago, a close friend of mine and I were eating dinner and watching TV. She randomly asked me during a commercial break if I thought I was gifted. I gave the question some thought and then confidently replied, “Yes.” I, then, asked her the same question. She said, “No.” I asked her why she thought that. She said, “Because I don’t do well in school.” I replied with a mild look of surprise, “Well, doing well in school has nothing to do with being gifted.” She said, “But you get such high grades. I don’t know how to do that.” I replied, “That’s because I was trained to get high grades. I know what teachers want.” We ended the conversation with her saying, “That’s true.” I didn’t give the conversation any immediate analysis and continued watching TV.

A week passed since that conversation took place and I finally gave it some deep processing, which, as I later recognized, was critically needed. I gave some deep thoughts into the age-old and world-wide cultural myth that there are only a handful of people in the world that can be considered “gifted” while the rest of the human race has to settle for “normal intelligence.” Within this myth, there is an even smaller population of people that has the misfortune of having less than normal intelligence and we call these people “mentally challenged.” Now, I don’t know what “normal intelligence” means since no one ever defines it. I suspect it is an ambiguous term whose definition is based not on a definitive set of existing qualities but on a definitive lack of certain special qualities…qualities that “gifted” people apparently enjoy.

People usually make the statement, “You have a gift.” To recognize someone who has a gift, we first have to recognize the gift itself. Since I already posited that “being gifted” is a myth, it is more precise to ask what people perceive gifts to be instead of asking what gifts are. So what do people perceive to be gifts? To answer this question, let’s understand another related term. Talent. Talents are abilities that society as a whole finds admirable, useful and acceptable. But not all talents are gifts. Gifts are something that is….on a level higher than talents. Rarity is what makes a talent a gift. So let’s put all of this together. Gifts are abilities that are socially admirable, useful, acceptable and rare. Being able to fold your tongue into a cup-like shape would not be a gift but being able to speak three languages would be a gift.

All myths are based on other, more fundamental myths. The myth of rare talents- the myth of gifts- is based on a more fundamental myth that is closely related to the definition of “normal intelligence.” This is the myth that all people, except for “gifted” folks, work the same way. They all think, sense, and process information in identical fashion. Any deviance from this fashion is a “gift” if it is socially beneficial and a “disorder” if it is socially unacceptable. There is another possible myth, which is that all people should work the same way even if they don’t do so. All people either do work or should work the same way so that society can provide human services most efficiently through homogeneity. Of course, it is easier to see how this belief is clearly a myth and not a true fact of life as it is impossible to deny that no two persons think, feel and live the same way. But it remains harder still to see how the idea of gifted people is a myth. I will explain this later, but let’s first talk about the negative consequences of the myth that everyone does or should work the same way.

The myth that everyone works or should work the same way is ultimately the fundamental premise that the standardized school system works on. All modern, large civilizations have standardized school systems that, excluding unique nuances owing to the individual cultures, basically operate on the same premise. The best way to learn is to think. The best way to absorb new knowledge and skills is to be in a closed environment and memorize knowledge that other people developed. The best way to know if you learned is to take a test and let the score indicate how much you learned, and thus how able you are at memorizing, which we blindly associate with intelligence. I have no doubt that the standardized school system was developed by people who themselves liked and excelled in school and thought that the classroom environment and the test-based, score-oriented method were the best ways for everyone to learn new information. Schools are made by and made for people that easily follow established directions, understand better by thinking conceptually, and are patient. If you possess these personality traits, then you will excel in school. Since school is entitled the role of the “source of knowledge” in a society, the particular learning and working style it fosters consequently becomes valued and glorified over all other learning and working styles. If you do well in school because you possess the personality and neurological traits supported by school, then you will be considered smart or gifted, but if you don’t, then you will be considered stupid (although they won’t call you that). They might also call you rowdy, lazy, or lacking long attention span.

The standardized school system and the myth that it is based on naturally leave out a whole spectrum of others ways of learning, working and processing information that people possess. Not everyone learns by thinking. Many people learn by feeling. Not everyone retains knowledge by reading. Many people remember by doing, seeing, and hearing. Not everyone can show that they learned something by taking a timed test. Many people prefer hands-on projects, performing in physical competitions, and producing their own piece of work. If the way you learn has been invalidated your whole life, then you naturally will come to believe that you truly are less intelligent and not gifted.

“Gift” is a flexible term that identifies any ability that is socially admirable, useful and acceptable. Many times, it doesn’t even have to be rare. If you do well in school, you can be called gifted because you’re being a productive member of society.. If you don’t do well in school but you managed to survive it and then express your true abilities in your work life, then you can also be called gifted if you provide a product or service that society enjoys. These people are often called artists, musicians, writers, athletes, dancers, and singers. If the things you can do are not socially admirable, useful and acceptable, then you will be labeled as a freak, mentally challenged or as having a disorder. For example, epileptic seizures are identified as a neurological disorder in many industrialized societies because it renders a person unable to function normally in daily life. But in tribal societies, people who have epileptic seizures are specially sought out to serve as shamans because the tribe finds the neurological condition useful. The epileptic seizures and the person who have them are socially supported, not ostracized. Another example is bipolar disorder. It is a disorder in industrialized societies because it renders the person incapable of functioning normally in daily life. But many of the world’s most prolific writers, artists, thinkers and inventors were such because their most creative works were produced during extreme moods. If only the society that they lived in knew how to support these people, then many of them would have been less likely to commit suicide due to irresolvable internal angst. The idea that some people are gifted and many others are not is a myth because it presupposes that only certain personality and neurological traits out of the infinitely wide spectrum of traits are worth possessing which, unfortunately, leaves many people feeling less capable than they truly are.

So how do we stop believing in this destructive myth and start validating everyone’s individual learning, information processing, communication and living style? We do this by giving people a new, more affiring perspective on their abilities. As writer Daniel Quinn said, society can’t force people to give up something (in this case, a belief) without giving them something new and better.

My idea? Let’s redefine “gift.” Instead of a definition based on social values, let’s have a neurologically and evolutionarily appropriate definition. From now on, “gift” is any and all abilities for which a person can do skillfully with little effort by virtue of his or her neurological wiring that optimizes those particular abilities. In this understanding, gift is nothing rare or special. Everyone has a gift for every brain is wired for optimal execution of some activity. Gift is not something determined by social values. Everyone’s gift is validated for it can produce unpredictable things that have the potential to benefit society if the ability is supported.

I said in the beginning that I didn’t have to work too hard to get good grades. This is because my gift is the ability to take a step back in any situation and see the larger picture. I have the ability to see patterns and relationships in society that many people don’t see. Because of this, I can easily and accurately predict what teachers are really asking for in an assignment beyond the instructions given. I give the answers that teachers are really looking for because I understand what their thought processes are and where they are coming from. I can do this skillfully with little effort. My other gifts include communicating best through writing, reading people’s body language, and and problem-solving. The gifts that I do not have are being empathetic, communicating verbally effectively, and understanding musical language and rhythm.

Redefining “gift” is only the first part, which is to stop believing in the myth. Validating everyone’s individual style is the second part, which is to give people something new and better. We need to validate people’s individual style by admitting that there is no one right way to do anything and then structure our educational curricula around that fact. Schools have to move away from teaching students how to absorb legitimized information in a linear thought process to teaching students how to recognize their particular learning style and then use it to understand information in new and novel frameworks that make sense to them. This way, schools are producing not an obedient labor force for businesses but an empowered group of people that are able to solve problems with unpredictable, diverse approaches.

I would say something about fostering a culture of letting people choose the occupation that fits their individual working style but I don’t have to worry about this aspect since people instinctively do this once they are graduated from the confines of the school system. As the planet plunges into an ever increasing sea of environmental and social problems, we cannot afford to keep our old ways of thinking and seeing the world. The idea of “gifted people” is one of these old ways. We have to develop new ways of thinking and living that are ecologically sound and socially equitable. Why not start with our assumptions about what people can and cannot do?

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