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Are We Losing Potential Leaders at an Early Age?

January 29, 2002 

"Over the past decade, the term 'at risk' has become more prevalent in the educational realm, and more attention has been concentrated on this group of underachieving students who are not succeeding in the public school system.  Federal funds have been allocated to implement special programs, and time, energy, and the efforts of educators and administrators have focused on remediating those youths who are at-risk due to economic, social, or physical disadvantages. 

In 1996 I undertook a study to answer some of the questions why gifted students were becoming at-risk, from relatively stable family structures in the middle- and upper-class homes, with no mental handicaps, underachieving.  By analyzing the relationship between personality traits and global learning skills and academic achievement, it became apparent that this population of gifted students was becoming  at-risk because they have personality traits and global perceptual tendencies that are not adequately addressed in the classroom.  Students who do not conform to the traditional classroom environment and teaching methods frequently become underachievers, and many drop out before graduation.

Reasons for gifted children's failures are legion.  Behaviorism, long considered the dominant learning theory in education, is a major culprit.  Traditional classrooms, building on behavioral models, promote convergent thinking, where emphasis is placed on the correct answer.  Students are asked to define, describe, list, explain, summarize, and match.  Very few opportunities for divergent thinking are provided, where students are encouraged to create, defend, or elaborate on ideas or express themselves freely (O'Tuel and Bullard, 1993).  Inquiry and guided-discovery learning are sporadic, and use of the higher-order thinking skills is not maximized.

Research also suggests that deficiencies in educational policies may contribute to underachievement.  Gifted students represent the potential for high-level performance in a variety of human resources and offer promise of superior leadership.  Yet, if the self-concept of such individuals is impaired in some way, it can severely inhibit their capacity to unleash their potential in the most productive channels.  These students in general have strong self-concepts in both academic and social areas and show superiority in superego, possessing greater conscience and self-discipline.  However, students who are higher in IQ do not necessarily score higher in self-0concept (Van-Tassel-Baska, Kubilius, and Kulieke, 1994).  The can only result in the loss of a precious resource within our society.

The middle school years are the most difficult for children, and ther is substantial evidence that at-risk categories of students emerge, and underachievement first occurs, during this phase of maturational and psychological development.  During this period of early adolescence, academic tasks become more demanding, affective problems begin to appear, and students become more influence by peer pressure (Whitmore, 1986, Frey, 1993, Rimm, 1993).  Unfortunately, leadership is the least discussed curricular area for gifted students in professional educational and leadership literature.  Despite the recent development of leadership training models for gifted education, few gifted programs identify students with high leadership potential or incorporate leadership education into their curricula (Karnes and Ben, 1990; Smith, Smith, and Barnette, 1991).  However, not all is bleak.  Leadership programs for youth do exist and have been shown to be successful. 

I conducted a study to examine the relationship between specific personality traits and learning styles and academic achievement in gifted students to determine whether or not these factors resulted in their becoming underachievers and 'at-risk' in the educational system.  Additionally, an attempt was made to determine when the sharpest rate of decline in academic performance occurred over a five-year period of time, which would have implications for intervention strategies.  The study population consisted of 46 gifted students in a South Caroline school district.  Based on a median-split of average cumulative end-of-year grades over a five-year period, the students were categorized into two groups: achievers and underachievers.  The two groups afforded an opportunity to examine differences in personality traits, learning styles, and academic performance between the groups within the population.

Two tests, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (Cattell, Edber, and Tatsuoka, 1970) and the Basic Assessment of Cognitive Organization (Bickley, 1985), were administered to the participants to determine personality traits and analytic-global learning styles.  The cumulative end-of-year academic grades were used to investigate whether or not there was an identifiable point in time over a five-year time span when the sharpest rate of decline in academic performance occurred.

In the final analysis of these data, a set of descriptors was developed to more clearly delineate the personalities of these two groups (Johnson, 1996).  A summary of these descriptors, shows that gifted achievers were found to be more introverted, abstract-thinking, emotionally stable, mature, able to face reality, serious, conscientious, moralistic, self-assured, secure, self-satisfied, self-sufficient, resourceful, prefer their own decisions, socially precise, relaxed, tranquil, and composed, whereas gifted underachievers appeared to be more extroverted, warm, kind, willing to participate, concrete-thinking, affected by feelings, enthusiastic, spontaneous, expressive, cheerful, expedient, apprehensive, insecure, self-blaming, group-oriented, more willing to listen to others, and not bound by social rules.  Both groups of gifted students exhibited global perceptual tendencies, and the majority of the total population were highly flexible.  Although they were more global in thinking, they could easily adapt to analytical situations.  

This study established that gifted students are endowed with a unique variety of personality traits that separate them from the general population, and many of these traits are related to their academic achievement and effective leadership.   Since personality traits are expressed in learning styles and preferences, teacher education programs should concentrate on making pre-service teachers ore aware of personality traits and global learning styles and provide extensive training in how to best accommodate these individual differences in students.

Through in-service and staff development, experienced teachers need to be equipped to utilize learning s styles and preferences in their instruction to meet the needs of all learners.  Teachers need to be more knowledgeable in identifying reasons for discrepant achievement on the part of students, assessing the needs of these students, and utilizing appropriate strategies for remediation, circumvention, and intervention.  If teachers are to accommodate these differences, there must be a departure from the traditional teaching styles and classroom management approaches, and that departure needs to be understood and accepted by administrators.

While not all gifted students desire to be leaders, leadership opportunities can be improved so that more will want to participate.  However, without an education, these students will never reach their potential, will not be prepared to enter successful careers, and will not support the school system for their children's academic success.  Society must continue to strive for understanding and insight into a question that holds great promise in assisting educators in rescuing one of the nation's most precious resources - a resource that holds the fate of a future society in its hands (Johnson, 1997, pp. 125-132)."

Reference:  Johnson, C.B. (1997).  Are we losing potential leaders at an early age?

A Leadership Journal: Women in Leadership, vol. 2, number 1, Fall 1997.

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Created: 2008-02-25, Updated: 2009-02-17