I don’t remember precisely when I first heard the word “gifted,” but it must have been in early elementary school. I do remember being pulled out of my first-grade class and led to the fifth-grade classroom, where a teacher told me to choose a chapter book that was “more at my level.” I...

Several years ago, I taught a summer course in Ghana for students at New York University. On the last day, I asked the group to identify the best part of the class.“My English improved so much,” the lone Chinese student said.Back in New York, she explained, she hung out almost exclusively wit...