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THE NATlONAL FOUNDATlON
FOR
November 16, 1981
The Honorable J. Joseph Garrahy
Dear Governor Garrahy:
The National Foundation for Gifted and Creative Children has
been striving to stop the intense suffering of our gifted children.
I was so fortunate to have had a pediatrlcian inform me of the grave
responsibility that was mine, because I had a gifted child. Now this
child has grown into a man who has received his degree from Boston
University. This degree is Magna Cum Laude. More important than his
academic success is that he holds values and attitudes that reflect
beauty and humility. How fortunate my husband and I feel to have a
son who never saw the need to channel his creativity in any destruct-
ive ways.
We know that having been warned of how difficult it is to parent
unusually gifted children is why we were able to spare him a life
that might have been full of delinquency, mental illness, academic
failure or a severe case of loss of personal identity. He is a
strong person who us unwilling to "follow the crowd" or to be in-
fluenced by his peers who frown upon his being "square".
Our child was hurt in his earliest school years. He wanted to
belong and he felt a failure because he could not color as well as
the other children in kindergarten. This is a boy who had read at a
very early age and who had been given the opportunities to learn that
which he was interested in. It was a devastating thing to watch my
child developing self-hatred, and to see him striving to please his
teacher, who wanted him to color the same as all the other children.
This was a boy who had studied astronomy and maps of the world long
before he entered school. He had also enjoyed being a child in many
ways. We worked very hard to assist him in his great desires to learn
these complex things, and to also have him enjoy being a child who could
have fun in play. This was not easy--the disparlty between his in-
tellectual needs and his emotional needs was great. But we learned
and we saw that the solutions available did work. The schools however,
did not know of these children, and it was not long before we knew
our child could not attend school. This conclusion was arrived at
only after many attempts to find the educational environment that was
right for our son. It was this experience with our son that led my
husband and myself to dedicate our lives to overcoming this problem.
-2-
Ours was and still is a mighty battle! We knew that it was our
responsibility to protect our son from hurt that would deprive him of
his psychological health. There was a professional in our state who
agreed with us. We were absolutely astounded when this same man sug-
gested that we drug our boy so that he might tolerate a destructive
learning environment. Our child was five years old. Now, sixteen years
later, in spite of all our efforts to spread enlightened attitudes we
find the situation has changed very little, if at all.
Our intent was to have an organization that might become a forum
through which we could change the school's attitudes towards these gift-
ed and creative children. What a formidable task! When I sought pro-
fessionals to back our efforts, they told me they were sympathetic but
my cause was too unpopular in the State of Rhode Island.
When I found a prestigious professional psychologist outside of the
state I was delighted. I still shudder when I think of how badly this
man was treated by our state. He helped so many children and their
families. Dr. Stanley Krippner became our consultant, my teacher and
mentor and he has been a source of assistance to our efforts for many
years.
In 1970 Dr. Krippner did a study on some of the children who had
been brought to us by distraught parents. They did not know where to
turn for help. We found so many very bright children being labeled
negatively and being prescribed drugs to keep them quiet in the class-
room. Dr. Krippner wrote the following:
A case could be made that some of the schools
in Rhode Island have seized on hyperkinesis as
a catch-all for their problem children, and on
psychoactive drugs as a simplistic method of
restraint. None of the children who were being
given drugs for hyperkinesis were classified on
the MFD* as "brain damaged."... ..Unfortunately,
it is apparent that for many school personnel,
medication is the first approach advised instead
of the last resort considered for a child whose
classroom behavior is divergent.
Our work began to cover many other states. Rhode Island started
a trend of the drugging of children that spread throughout the nation
and world. I have always held that it is fitting that Rhode Island
be the first to begin to stop this disgraceful business of drugging
children who do not fit the norm.
There are parents who came to us for assistance who refused to
stop the drug for their child. Some of these parents are aware that
they have gifted children, but they find the drug makes the child easier
to manage at home. How do we protect these children? This remains
an unresolved problem.
In the past year, we have some devoted parents who are searching
the literature and are assuming their full responsibilities as parents
of their gifted children. Workshops have been held, and, as a result,
*Memory For Design.
-3-
I was called upon to meet and observe some of their troubled children.
These youngsters have been administered tests which we consider only
one tool in our over-all evaluation of the situation. I have spent
long hours with some of these children and their parents. Again, I am
deeply distressed to find these youngsters suffering. The new cases
are so deplorable that I have gained new energies to fight harder for
the rights of these children whom I love so much.
Through the years we have made many, many appeals to our leaders.
Again, we must approach our governor of the State of Rhode Island.
We must stress that our approach to prevention is imperative. To thwart
our most creative children is to breed criminals. Our group must
become strong and relentless in our appeals to our leadership. There is
no reason why the children of our state cannot profit from our expertise,
experience and knowledge of the needs of the gifted. I have many letters
that will bear out how this otganization has saved many children from
lives of torture. Why, then, does this state not want to endorse the
work of the foundation?
Recently, Harold Howe II, formerly vice president for Education
and Public Policy at the Ford Foundation, and now the senior lecturer
at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, addressed a meeting of
the Chief Education Officers of the United States on November 17, 1980.
This address was called PEDAGOGY FOR THE CHIEFS. ~ quote fram his
address:
I want to argue that the improvement of
pedagogy is the most likely source of a
real solution to the shortcomings of
America's schools.
In making that statement I do not intend
to blame the troubles of the schools on
teachers ( or parents or children ) who
are the ones most often criticized for
education's shortcomings. Indeed. I doubt
that it is useful to seek gcapegoats for
the difficulties of education today, but
if I had to do so, I would lay the blame
at the door of education's leaders. A
reasonable question to ask of city and
state officials is, what have you done in the
last year to help teachers contend more
successfully with the very difficult tasks
that they confront in school classrooms?
I have often said that the lack of creative leadership in our
State of Rhode Island is the reason why we do not see our children
being helped. There is no doubt in my mind that some of these people
with whom I have spoken on many occasions are not stupid. They are
aware that the gifted child is often destroyed in our schools.
Why, then, is their lack of action not seen as criminal negligence?
I have often been called an abusive woman by these same people.
Have I been abusive enough in my crusade to stop the abuse of these
sensitive children? As more of our parents become educated, I hope
that they can give our leaders the courage to assist children who
are victims of their fear and apathy. Children who are fearful
cannot be creative; leaders who are fearful cannot be creative.
We must remove their fear.
-4-
If our schnols are dedicated to the transmission of the culture
as I have described it in Rhode Island, they must be biased against
creativity. There are so many people in this state who fear the
"powers that be" -- there is so little questioning of authority --
there is a prevailing acceptance of dogma -- therefore, by this very
nature, there cannot be tolerance for the deviant thinker. When
parents become aware of their gifted child's needs and they begin
to change in order to provide a home environment that is conducive
to creative growth, they must reject our schools as they are. The
child who is nurtured in the home where democracy is the rule will
not be able to perform in the school where the rule is to adhere to
blind authority. The worst kind of situation for the gifted child
is to have one parent who is strict and authoratative and the other
who is flexible and democratic. The clever child soon learns to
manipulate one parent against the other. The child would be better
off to have both parents share the same views in these areas.
The same is true of the family structure and the school structure.
It does no good for the foundation to assist parents in changing their
mode of parenting to one which is more accomodating for the gifted,
and then subject these youngsters to a school system that has main-
tained the rule of blind authority.
What we ask is so very vital. Of course we are speaking of the
children. Yet, the society has so much to gain by supporting the goals
of this foundation. If we look at the gifted child who has strong
creative drives in new ways and if we apply all we know on how best to
nurture this child, crime will decrease, there will be fewer psychotics
in our institutions and children who appear to be difficult will de-
velop self-love and grow into happy, productive human beings. All
I ask is that we make room for these children. I ask that the pro-
fessionals begin to inform parents of the child's special needs at
the earliest year possible. Our pediatricians should be as alert to
the gifted as they are to the retarded. It is equally as important.
if not more so. A society that does for their retarded and neglects
their gifted is very short sighted, indeed.
We urge that the parents who seek alternatives for the gifted
child be given much support by our state's leaders. Many parents
cannot afford the materials and equipment so needed for these curious
minds. There are also the single parents who might want to stay at
home with the child but cannot do so.
In our many years of work and study of the gifted, we have learned
that those individuals who are creative and who have not been destroyed
by the system are given much support by parents or relatives. They
also have had someone in their lives who has shared their particular
interest. This is so very important for the gifted. Here is where a
knowing and alert community could contribute much to the development
of creative talent. Business should also see the merits of assisting
the gifted. Perhaps with this kind of leadership we may begin to
obtain support for our deprived children.
This is a plea to our Governor to assist us in developing a
forum for our ideas. We feel that to devote eighteen years to
the cause of the gifted child should merit the attention of the
Head of State.
-5-
Perhaps our Governor would like to meet some of the children I
speak about. I would like for you to "Hear the Children."
In closing I feel that Pearl Buck really understood the kinds
of youngsters I spend my days with. She said the following:
The truly creative mind in any field is
no more than this: a human creature born
abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him
a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a
misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy,
a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and
failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate
organism the overpowering necessity to create,
create, create---so that without the creating
of music or poetry or books or buildings or
something of meaning, his very breath is cut
off from him. He must create, must pour out
creation. By some strange, unknown, inward
urgency he is not really alive unless he is
creating.
While I know how busy our Governor is, I sincerely hope that
all I have tried to convey to you will not be in vain. Many parents
and children eagerly await to hear from you.
Sincerely yours,
Marie Friedel
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