Gifted Students and Social Stigma Philosopher Benedict Spinoza said, “Man is a social animal” (Kaplan 278). The desire for social acceptance, whether acknowledged or denied, is part of human culture. People aspire to it, obsess over it, and change themselves to get it. Humans can spend their entire lives unsuccessfully trying to achieve a level of social status that they believe will validate them. Acceptance is denied for superficial reasons ranging from clothing to cliques. However, this is also denied due to innate elements of personality. Stigmatizing others for a natural characteristic seems not only unjustified but also unfair. Yet, a stigma is imposed daily on gifted adolescents who neither deserve nor know how to handle denigration. One group that is particularly limited in terms of social acceptance is gifted students. Intellectually exceptional students are socially stigmatized. Often their intelligence is inversely correlated with their social abilities. The earlier the gift, the less social skills are developed. And the spectrum of stigma extends from negative peer perceptions to the inability to interact socially with peers, the extreme of which can lead to suicide. The origin of social stigma often comes from educators and parents, those ideally associated with guiding and supporting students. . The advanced abilities of most gifted children are identified at a young age. And, in today's education system that teaches the basics and helps students get by, gifted students are not challenged. Joyce Van Tassel, director of the Area Service Center for Gifted Education on Chicago's South Side, says, "The system itself doesn't demand much of these students." We worry about the minimal skills and... middle of paper... ...of adolescent boys." Roeper Review. 13.4. (1991): 1-6. Kress, Cathann A. "Understanding What Is Persistently Wrong understood: the “underachieving and gifted” child. Recovering Children and Youth. (1998): 204-207. Luftig, Richard L. and Marci L. Nichols. their age peers. 34.3 (1990): 111-5. Peterson, Jean Sunde Magazine. March/April 2000: 36-42. self-concept." Journal of Youth and Adolescence (2001): 19-39, Margaret..". 13.4. (1991): 1-3.