The educational intervention gifted children need most: To become wise, not just smart

Abstract

Gifted students should be taught not only for knowledge and for intelligence-enhancing techniques, but also for wisdom. What the world needs most, but also most lacks, is wisdom in the gifted individuals who become leaders. Teaching for wisdom means helping students to look toward a common good; by balancing their own with others’, and with larger interests; over the long-as well as the short-term; through the infusion of positive ethical values; in order to adapt to, shape, and select environments. This essay deals with how wisdom might be entered into the curriculum for gifted students.