For a few decades, it’s been noted that a large percentage of all gifted students (those who score in the top 10 percent on aptitude tests) severely underestimate their own abilities. “Look, just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you don’t have to put out some effort.” (Eventually, Thomas mastered cursive, but not without a lot of cajoling from his father.) Why does this child, who is measurably at the very top of the charts, lack confidence about his ability to tackle routine school challenges? Thomas is not alone. Thomas’s father tried to reason with him. Rather than play catch-up on his penmanship, Thomas refused outright. By then, his teacher was demanding homework be completed in cursive. He was supposed to learn cursive penmanship, but he wouldn’t even try for weeks.
When Thomas took his first look at fractions, he balked. For instance, in the early grades, Thomas wasn’t very good at spelling, so he simply demurred from spelling out loud. “Some things came very quickly to him, but when they didn’t, he gave up almost immediately, concluding, ‘I’m not good at this.’ ” With no more than a glance, Thomas was dividing the world into two-things he was naturally good at and things he wasn’t. “Thomas didn’t want to try things he wouldn’t be successful at,” his father says. In fact, Thomas’s father noticed just the opposite. But as Thomas has progressed through school, this self-awareness that he’s smart hasn’t always translated into fearless confidence when attacking his schoolwork. He scored in the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent. Thomas didn’t just score in the top 1 percent. The school is reserved for the top 1 percent of all applicants, and an IQ test is required. When he applied to Anderson for kindergarten, his intelligence was statistically confirmed. Not just from his parents but from any adult who has come in contact with this precocious child.
Since Thomas could walk, he has constantly heard that he’s smart. They are “the smart kids.” Thomas is one of them, and he likes belonging. Thomas hangs out with five friends from the Anderson School. Unlike Bond, he prefers a uniform of cargo pants and a T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of one of his heroes: Frank Zappa. Slim as they get, Thomas recently had his long sandy-blond hair cut short to look like the new James Bond (he took a photo of Daniel Craig to the barber). 334, the Anderson School on West 84th in New York City. “Thomas (his middle name) is a fifth-grader at the highly competitive P.S.
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