How My Interest in Prodigies Began

Some years ago I worked with a young violin prodigy in the St. Louis area, and helped set up a few concerts for him. The young man had studied at several area schools, both independent ("private") and public. At the time I first met him, he was in his second or third year at a large public high school in an affluent area.

The young violinist liked his school, and seemed reasonably popular and successful there. However, I was dismayed to learn that his school was almost ignorant of his profound abilities; even the music staff were unaware, since the young man's studies were all completed out of town with a noted private teacher. I suppose he and his family should have made stronger efforts to sound his own horn, so to speak, but I suspect they were all too modest for that. At one of his recitals, the only person from his school who showed up was an English teacher--and thank God for her!

After having acquired several years of public school teaching experience myself, I now understand how difficult it can be to find time to support your students' outside achievements. However, isn't education all about nurturing and promoting achievement in all areas? What can we do to make schools more aware of the vast individuality and talents of each student? Perhaps the difficulty of so doing is one reason why home schooling has become such a dominant force in our society.

Not only do gifted students sometimes fall through the cracks in our system; sometimes those students who are challenged in various areas fall--and perhaps fall harder, with fewer options for rescue.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Gary