The Makeup of Labels and Their Effects on Mentality
The focus of Gates’ article, Children with Gifts and Talents: Looking Beyond Traditional Labels, examines the relationship between student behaviors and labeling. (Roeper Review 2010). A case study was used to help Gates’ explain her key research question, which is addressed as follows: there is a relationship between the behavior/performance of a student and the label assigned to them. The variables in this study were student giftedness (independent variable) and student behavior (dependent variable). Gates measured these variables by admitting students to gifted education classrooms. These classrooms had a limited number of seats so not all so-called “gifted students” were admitted. So, Gate’s experimental group was those “gifted students” who were placed in a regular classroom and later told that they were in fact gifted. The theories used throughout this article include labeling theory, control theory, the pygmalion effect, and stigma theory. As Gates predicted these labels do have a large impact on students, even if the labels are not accurate. …show more content…
200). These labels then influence not only the way others view the student but also how the student views himself or herself. Typically when the word label comes to mind, I associate it with a negative connotation. However, labeling can have both positive and negative effects. For example, negative effects often occur when these labels do not correspond to expectations and performance. Labels are powerful, but when only a student’s personality or behavior is addressed we leave out the most important part, the
The focus of Gates’ article, Children with Gifts and Talents: Looking Beyond Traditional Labels, examines the relationship between student behaviors and labeling. (Roeper Review 2010). A case study was used to help Gates’ explain her key research question, which is addressed as follows: there is a relationship between the behavior/performance of a student and the label assigned to them. The variables in this study were student giftedness (independent variable) and student behavior (dependent variable). Gates measured these variables by admitting students to gifted education classrooms. These classrooms had a limited number of seats so not all so-called “gifted students” were admitted. So, Gate’s experimental group was those “gifted students” who were placed in a regular classroom and later told that they were in fact gifted. The theories used throughout this article include labeling theory, control theory, the pygmalion effect, and stigma theory. As Gates predicted these labels do have a large impact on students, even if the labels are not accurate. …show more content…
200). These labels then influence not only the way others view the student but also how the student views himself or herself. Typically when the word label comes to mind, I associate it with a negative connotation. However, labeling can have both positive and negative effects. For example, negative effects often occur when these labels do not correspond to expectations and performance. Labels are powerful, but when only a student’s personality or behavior is addressed we leave out the most important part, the