, Columnist
France's Gifted Youth Are Set Up to Fail
An inflexible, egalitarian education system works against its most talented pupils.
Day dreamer.
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In the 21st century, a country’s gifted children are arguably a more valuable natural resource than, say, oil or gas. A new study shows that France is largely wasting this precious resource.
The study is by Laurence Vaivre-Douret, a professor of neuropsychology at the University of Paris; it was presented at a recent conference organized by the ministry of education and has not yet been published. It found that 39 percent of French gifted children are medically depressed, versus 2 percent for the general population of children. More than 80 percent in the sample are diagnosed with anxiety. More than a fifth of the gifted children in the study were deemed a suicide risk.