Why is exceptional work treated as such an exception?
My daughter Kate, of whom I am incredibly proud, took part this morning in the 2008 Tournament of Minds . She was part of her school's entry into the annual event, which is run as an activity for the kids in the school's gifted and talented program. The performance by the students was quite amazing. For those of you unfamiliar with the Tournament of Minds event, the students are given a scenario to which they must respond. This response is typically done in the form of a dramatic stageplay, but getting to the point of performing that stage play requires a huge amount of cross curricula learning to take place. There is lots of behind the scenes research, teamwork, collaboration, literacy and creativity. Teams must write, direct and produce the act, create all the props, and meet strict guidelines as to allowed times, materials and so on. The scenario this year was that a famous author (chosen from a list of possible authors) had lost their memory. To try and reinstate the au...