GIFTED EDUCATION AND THE THREAT OF IRRELEVANCE

In this paper, I argue that, when one subjects the field of gifted edu cation to critical appraisal, the most important finding that emerges is a sense that the field is increasingly irrelevant in the educationa l scheme of things. At a time when education is a major topic in the d iscourse of the nation and when fundamental issues of educational phil osophy and practice are being raised, our field has been largely margi nal. Instead of asking the questions that are and ought to be basic to our field, we have left that task to others, contenting ourselves ins tead with defending gifted programs as if they were an end, not a mean s to an end. I develop this argument in the context of a number of fun damental questions that bear on the theory and practice of educating g ifted students, questions that have, for the most part, been raised by individuals outside the field of gifted education.