Widening Horizons for Educating the Gifted and General Education

Dr. Sujatha A. Krishna Rao author of ‘Widening Horizons for Educating the Gifted and General Education’ is an educational and corporate training consultant with a diverse background in psychology education and management. She offers an enlarged and revised edition of Widening Horizons as an eye-opening and inspiring guidebook for educators worldwide – school teachers teacher educators researchers educational policy makers and administrators and given its simple and lucid style also parents. The book examines vital issues that are relevant not only for ‘education of the gifted’ but also for ‘education in general’ and ‘widens horizons’ regarding both. 200 out of every 1000 children (who together constitute children who are in the top 10% of their age group on any ability) are gifted in some important way and can make outstanding contributions in various fields. But because most schools focus on the ‘average’ child the rights and needs of gifted children are ignored resulting in failure to identify understand and nurture their talents adequately. As a result by the time these children leave school much of their talents are lost often irrevocably both to themselves and to society. In this enlightening book Dr. Rao examines comprehensively and in depth the myriad aspects of gifted child education. She also critiques in Chapter 6 gifted programs in her own native India. This serves as an in-depth example of global value of what schools are doing in theory and practice to address the educational needs of the gifted. Also very importantly this critique has been made against the backdrop of ‘education in general’ and the views on education of Indian seer/mystic/spiritual philosophers. This brings to the fore some serious fundamental lacunae in educational systems all over the world which have led to the lop-sided development of both individuals and societies.