BabyBites

kiddybites convo: response to Q’s and IQ testing thoughts

Thank you all for such great questions and responses. All of this talk about traditional IQ tests and emotional intelligence reminds me of an email I recently received from the mom of one of my ex-students, Phoebe, whom I taught when I was teaching in London (as a learning specialist I met her when she was 4 and taught her on and off for many years. She is now 17!). Even at a young age, she was extremely kind, caring and tuned into other’s feelings (classic high emotional intelligence). Here is an excerpt from the email:

“Heather, I think of you all often and of course especially at this time of year. I just wanted to share with you our bit of good news. Phoebe recently got her GCSE results and got 6 A’s ,1A*,and 3B’s ( 2 of which were only one point off A’s and so are being sent for remarking), not bad for a child who’s old Headmistress advised to be sent to a “special” school. Well after a particularly tough year on the bullying front, because she wouldn’t gang up against another girl, Phoebe was pretty broken and then she won a special prize for being caring to others. I saw a change in her, and a new strength and pride, that being the best you can be was what life was about. That being first was not the only prize available.”

Anyway, I thought this letter was relevant to what we have been discussing. Especially the part about her old headmistress making inaccurate assumptions about her academic competence at such an early age. Since our seminar is tomorrow, I’m throwing another question out there to all of you. If you could ask Dr. Schwartz one question about the ERBs and testing- what would it be?

~Heather