GEP Tales

One of Dr Lim's recent patients is a Gifted Education Programme (GEP) teacher in one of the top primary schools in Singapore.

She related that she had a student who transferred into her school to attend the GEP. For the first six months, that student coped well with the very demanding programme. This student was very industrious but despite her hardwork, she started to flounder subsequently. Fortunately for her, she managed to make it to the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and got average results. The reason why she struggled to cope with the GEP was because she was hot housed into the GEP and was not of the same calibre as her fellow contemporaries and hardwork alone may not be enough for the GEP.

In another encounter, Dr Lim was introduced to a GEP student while accompanying her son for his chess competition. Dr Lim was very impressed with this girl's achievements and decided to inquire further. She asked this 11 year old what her academic results were and the GEP student replied, "Didn't your parents teach you not to ask such questions?!"

I wonder what kind of a patient this 11 year old would make.