Perfectionism, the compulsive striving for unrealistic and unattainable goals, is not limited to gifted individuals. However, research shows that gifted children and adults are at least as susceptible to perfectionistic tendencies as the population at large. Due to their heightened sensitivity, awareness, and abilities, gifted children require affective counseling in order to learn coping skills to help them break the cycle of disabling perfectionism. Teachers of the gifted may use various techniques with which to address these affective needs. Bibliotherapy, group therapeutic discussion, and art activities are all methods through which the negative manifestations of perfectionism—eating disorders, depression, underachievement, substance abuse, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and suicide—may be addressed.
In the transition from the industrial age to the information age, the 21st century has brought with it new challenges for the educational needs of the nation's youth. Information-intensive and technology-driven jobs encompass 60% of America's job market (Jukes, 1997). Over the last decade, over half of the new jobs created in the United States have evolved from new technologies (Jukes). Occupational futurists predict that in the first decade of the 21st century, eight out of every ten jobs will be information-intensive (Jukes; Naisbitt & Aburdene, 1990). The National Science Foundation (1997) estimates that by the year 2010, one-fourth of all new jobs will involve technology. Effective leaders and productive citizens will need to possess both skill and confidence in their abilities to use and manipulate technology and information (Jones, 1990; Jukes; Morgan, 1993).
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