The necessity for morality in gifted education

By Annemarie Roeper

Original Publication Date: August 1985

In 1985, George and Annemarie attended a World Council for Gifted and Talented Children conference in Hamburg. Being in Hamburg, where George was born, and near Marienau, the school they grew up in and had to flee, made them both quite full of emotion.  In addition, the conference opened on the day of the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.  This confluence of factors made them both receptive to the power of the questions raised by German attendees about the moral hazard of identifying anyone as gifted and potentially superior. In this paper, Annemarie reflects on the questions raised and her thoughts about their responsibilities as educators to provide moral guidance to students.