Perennial Debates and Tacit Assumptions in the Education of Gifted Children

Abstract

For many years, educators of the gifted have debated topics central to the field such as definition, identification, and curriculum (Getzels & Dillon, 1973). This paper explores the possible relationships between gifted educators periodic debates and the philosophical war among advocates of differing perspectives of social science research. The authors discuss how the acceptance of a particular mode of inquiry embeds tacit ideas into the debate that make resolution difficult. The tacit assumptions of three modes of disciplined inquiry (empirical-analytic, interpretive, and transformative) are presented in conjunction with the accompanying reformulation and reconceptualization of issues (definition, identification, and curriculum) that occur with each mode of inquiry.

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