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Smart Girls: A New Psychology of Girls, Women, and Giftedness
Presents current research on gifted girls; provides biographies about eminent women, their lives, and achievements; and examines the educational and family environment.
270 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1997
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June 3, 2016
Smart Girls is a book compiling over 20 years of the author's own research and thoughts on the development and lives of gifted girls and women. This revised edition was published in 1994, and is now quite dated in my opinion, however there is as till a lot of relevant content. (Apparently the author has since written a new book on the topic called "Smart Girls in the 21st Century".)
The descriptions of the various stages of life that gifted girls and women go through match my own experiences an my gifted friends' experiences quite accurately for the most part. I have definitely experienced the insatiable curiosity typical in childhood, followed by a loss of confidence in adolescence and the conflicts between career and relationships that followed. I have definitely been frustrated at what seems to be my own inability to live up to the potential that my parents and teachers saw in me as a child. So I think Barbara A. Kerr is doing really important work, writing about and examining this topic.
She gives some suggestions and practical advice for gifted girls and women, and their parents and teachers, although it is sometimes vague. But I think that's fine, since it is probably difficult to give universal advice to a group of people who vary so much in their talents, interests, and circumstances.
Kerr does advocate for gifted girls to attend women-only institutions for post-secondary education, which I think makes sense for the time this book was originally published (1985), as she states that there was still a lot of sex discrimination in schools back then. However, with statistics from the last few years touting that more women than men are pursuing higher education, as well as the mainstream social and political shift towards feminism, diversity, etc., I think coed schools are probably fine.
The best, most practical advice I got from this, which is also the conclusion that I came to myself in the last year, appears at the very end of this book, in the appendix where Kerr answers some frequently asked questions. She writes, "A job is something someone gives you to do in return for money; a career is something only you can give yourself." She then goes on to say that we can conserve our energy on the job, dont get overly involved in the social relationships there, and don't exhaust yourself as it's a waste of time. We gifted are generally good at reaching a level of competence at whatever we're doing, anyway. Instead, focus your efforts on whatever it is that interests you, spend your time there and develop relationships in that realm; that is where fulfillment will come from. (Of course, if you can make your career into your job, better yet.)
Anyway, this was a really interesting read and I highly recommend it to all gifted women. I'm sure you'll devour it as I have, and find yourselves in these pages.
The descriptions of the various stages of life that gifted girls and women go through match my own experiences an my gifted friends' experiences quite accurately for the most part. I have definitely experienced the insatiable curiosity typical in childhood, followed by a loss of confidence in adolescence and the conflicts between career and relationships that followed. I have definitely been frustrated at what seems to be my own inability to live up to the potential that my parents and teachers saw in me as a child. So I think Barbara A. Kerr is doing really important work, writing about and examining this topic.
She gives some suggestions and practical advice for gifted girls and women, and their parents and teachers, although it is sometimes vague. But I think that's fine, since it is probably difficult to give universal advice to a group of people who vary so much in their talents, interests, and circumstances.
Kerr does advocate for gifted girls to attend women-only institutions for post-secondary education, which I think makes sense for the time this book was originally published (1985), as she states that there was still a lot of sex discrimination in schools back then. However, with statistics from the last few years touting that more women than men are pursuing higher education, as well as the mainstream social and political shift towards feminism, diversity, etc., I think coed schools are probably fine.
The best, most practical advice I got from this, which is also the conclusion that I came to myself in the last year, appears at the very end of this book, in the appendix where Kerr answers some frequently asked questions. She writes, "A job is something someone gives you to do in return for money; a career is something only you can give yourself." She then goes on to say that we can conserve our energy on the job, dont get overly involved in the social relationships there, and don't exhaust yourself as it's a waste of time. We gifted are generally good at reaching a level of competence at whatever we're doing, anyway. Instead, focus your efforts on whatever it is that interests you, spend your time there and develop relationships in that realm; that is where fulfillment will come from. (Of course, if you can make your career into your job, better yet.)
Anyway, this was a really interesting read and I highly recommend it to all gifted women. I'm sure you'll devour it as I have, and find yourselves in these pages.
May 17, 2021
Overall, an informative, fascinating, comforting book and review of available research at the time of publication. An overview of the life paths of Gifted women and why they may or may not succeed as expected in adulthood. Highly recommend for gifted girls themselves, as well as parents, teachers, guidance counselors, administration, etc. despite its age.
*Goodreads isn't showing my edition, which has a copyright of 1994. This means that all the populations studied and discussed in this book were growing up with and influenced by a completely different set of socioeconomic factors than later Millennials and Gen Z girls/women. I would love to find a similar book reviewing relevant research published in the 2010s. If you know one, please leave a comment.
The age of this book means that there are some smaller problematic issues in the way things such as disability are mentioned and the terms used for certain groups are no longer best practices (African American instead of Black, etc.) Otherwise, the only section that bothered me was a section of biographies of "eminent" women--the biographies had some internal organization issues, but at least included a few women of marginalized groups. Although small, there are sections on the special challenges faced by girls of marginalized groups: Native American girls, Black girls, Asian-American, and Hispanic girls, and none of the advice for adults in trying to help girls overcome those challenges sounded obviously wrong 26 years later. (Note: Trans girls and women are not mentioned.) Elementary education is discussed as a lower-status profession in a way that could probably be annoying, but does accurately represent the status it holds as an underappreciated role in American life.
I was fortunate enough to have a strong Gifted program until I started high school, but Gifted studies are something I rarely see or hear discussed. It seems that everyone I know who went into Special Ed. was focused on struggling learners.
This book closely examines the questions "why aren't Gifted women doing more with their 'potential'? Why don't we see more prominent Gifted women? How can we improve this?" It turns out that among the groups studied (which tend to be a bit small) in various research, it's not uncommon for girls identified as Gifted to be not as successful and high-status as all those awesome commencement speeches told my generation we would be. I find this comforting, as my career hasn't gone as smoothly as I would have hoped in these first years after college. I can see in Kerr's recommendations for guidance and encouragement of Gifted girls things that would have helped me avoid missteps in high school, college, and early adult life. It's shame they weren't implemented more widely by the time I was in high school.
There are a few observations I question, notably some of her assertions about the differences between Gifted girls and boys in choosing challenging classes. My Gifted classes ALWAYS included more girls than boys, and in high school, most of my advanced classes held only 1-3 boys and about 20 girls, including AP Calculus. Again, I'd love to see more recent data on this.
Overall, an informative, interesting, comforting book and review of available research at the time. Again, highly recommend, despite its age.
*Goodreads isn't showing my edition, which has a copyright of 1994. This means that all the populations studied and discussed in this book were growing up with and influenced by a completely different set of socioeconomic factors than later Millennials and Gen Z girls/women. I would love to find a similar book reviewing relevant research published in the 2010s. If you know one, please leave a comment.
The age of this book means that there are some smaller problematic issues in the way things such as disability are mentioned and the terms used for certain groups are no longer best practices (African American instead of Black, etc.) Otherwise, the only section that bothered me was a section of biographies of "eminent" women--the biographies had some internal organization issues, but at least included a few women of marginalized groups. Although small, there are sections on the special challenges faced by girls of marginalized groups: Native American girls, Black girls, Asian-American, and Hispanic girls, and none of the advice for adults in trying to help girls overcome those challenges sounded obviously wrong 26 years later. (Note: Trans girls and women are not mentioned.) Elementary education is discussed as a lower-status profession in a way that could probably be annoying, but does accurately represent the status it holds as an underappreciated role in American life.
I was fortunate enough to have a strong Gifted program until I started high school, but Gifted studies are something I rarely see or hear discussed. It seems that everyone I know who went into Special Ed. was focused on struggling learners.
This book closely examines the questions "why aren't Gifted women doing more with their 'potential'? Why don't we see more prominent Gifted women? How can we improve this?" It turns out that among the groups studied (which tend to be a bit small) in various research, it's not uncommon for girls identified as Gifted to be not as successful and high-status as all those awesome commencement speeches told my generation we would be. I find this comforting, as my career hasn't gone as smoothly as I would have hoped in these first years after college. I can see in Kerr's recommendations for guidance and encouragement of Gifted girls things that would have helped me avoid missteps in high school, college, and early adult life. It's shame they weren't implemented more widely by the time I was in high school.
There are a few observations I question, notably some of her assertions about the differences between Gifted girls and boys in choosing challenging classes. My Gifted classes ALWAYS included more girls than boys, and in high school, most of my advanced classes held only 1-3 boys and about 20 girls, including AP Calculus. Again, I'd love to see more recent data on this.
Overall, an informative, interesting, comforting book and review of available research at the time. Again, highly recommend, despite its age.
August 12, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. I also read the one for young men. It was especially interesting since Barb and I (excuse me Dr Kerr) were in the same "gifted and talented" class in the immediately post Sputnik era. They really should have worried much more about our social and psychological development rather than just our intellect. We all might have gotten closer to being the scientists and engineers they were trying to develop. Some of us did do fairly well, but many others never reached their full potential.
January 23, 2020
3.5 stars. First of all, I wonder if this book is so dated that its topics and arguments might change dramatically in 2020. For example, the author claims that parents of a gifted girl might need to buy a computer; today, we expect to hold them in our hands! She also emphasizes workplace sexism of the 1980s and college discrimination that feel very outdated. Overall, this book gave me a great deal to think about as a gifted woman with two gifted daughters, but I can’t say I agree with all of it. (As a side note, people should read things they don’t 100% agree with more often; it makes us think!) In particular, despite the author claiming that she doesn’t prescribe certain standards of career or prominence for gifted women...she really does. Traditional roles are quite belittled, and we are essentially told that if we chose those paths (married and had children young and took time out from a career to do it), we can’t REALLY be happy or self-actualized; it’s just that, since we are gifted, we are used to adjusting and making the best of things. The best part of the book was the chapter on guiding gifted girls at various ages, and I’d prefer to see a more current book that is specifically about that topic.
May 29, 2009
A good summary of the available literature (c. 1994) re: gifted girls. I would be very interested in reading an updated edition, since I believe some things have changed (e.g. schools and universities are aware of biases and actively work to prevent them). I don't necessarily agree with the author's belief that "success" automatically includes advanced degrees and a high salary, but the issues she raises are worth thinking about.
September 11, 2013
This book had some important concepts about how smart girls interact with their worlds, and the impact that can have on their adulthood. I appreciated the perspective, but it was also a depressing book. The focus is clearly on the negative effects of various situations, and there wasn't much positive expressed in the book. It can be eye-opening, but I don't think I would recommend it to everyone.
May 5, 2015
Very interesting and informative. I feel that this book emphasized readability over strenuous discussion, but nonetheless, it covered just about every aspect of the development and care of a gifted girl throughout her life. I would definitely recommend this to any and all parents of female children regardless of their 'giftedness'.
August 11, 2015
This book gave a comprehensive issue and why gifted girls are they way they are. However, it is not an effective text for teachers because it does not give a lot of advice as to how we can change except to be supportive.
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July 6, 2012This gives great insights into the uniqueness of girls as well as the challenges they face as they grow and develop. Most moms would easily relate to the concepts.
July 22, 2013
Very interesting...need to read more.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews