"THE 4TH GRADE SLUMP"

Dr. E. Paul Torrance labeled what seems to happen in cultures around the globe:
"THE 4TH GRADE SLUMP"

He found by studying his original 400 Torrance Kids for decades....the 50th Year Book was published in 2012.

by the time children who scored very high (almost everyone) on his Tests of Creative Thinking when retesting in the 4th grade showed dramatic drops in their scores.  He found this around the globe: western, eastern cultures mostly the same result.

Then when they became 10th graders (teenagers) their scores generally dropped even more.

They hadn't disappeared just but away, hidden because they usually got into trouble being CREATIVE.  My own daughter is a prime example.  She finally realized that being different as a thinker only got her in trouble with most of her teachers and it kept her from becoming friends with girls and boys she wanted to be friends with.

Culturizing = Conformity

The highly creatives in any culture that choose to resist the numbing down or equalizing never conform.  Unfortunately not all of them survive  Some fail in many ways.  Some become criminals, outcasts, misfits, weirdos, or MENZA MEMBERS and accomplish mostly nothing in the minds of their cultures, professions, occupations.

Is this still common in school systems?

Has the focus on 'NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND' standardized testing caused the 4th SLUMP to occur sooner?

What do you think?

As a teacher what have you experienced?

As a parent what have you experience in the past few years now in the second decade of the 21st century?