GIFTED KID BURNOUT

Natalie Mazey recounts her experiences growing up as a student under the term “gifted.” column natalie mazey photography marleigh winterbottom

The term “gifted” was handed to me in second grade. I did not see it as a gift. I saw it as a label affixed to me after a strange lady took me to a strange classroom to answer a plethora of questions, ruining my day that was supposed to be spent watching “The Polar Express” with my class. In reality, it was a label that set me up to struggle when things no longer came easy.

The results of this testing informed my teachers I was “gifted”. For me, that meant going upstairs for math with third-grade students, and being put in the gifted classes in elementary school, before the label transitioned to advanced in junior high.

This was never a big deal to me. I devoured books and never had to study. I enjoyed school and was good at it. I thrived in an academic setting without trying, but I just got lucky. Due to the way school was structured, I was set up to succeed on paper; as I got older, I began to see the holes in this facade of success.

Later, in challenging honors and AP classes, I needed to study, but I had no idea how to. I began procrastinating instead of tackling a task because of the fear of not being good enough. If I procrastinated and didn’t live up to my standards, I could blame the amount of time I had rather than myself. Anxiety blossomed and I didn’t know how to cope. If I wasn’t succeeding academically, I wasn’t succeeding at all.

I am not alone in this. #giftedkidburnout has amassed 89.9 million views on TikTok, with videos composed of people spelling out the ways being “gifted” as a kid negatively affected them. Some explain their inability to complete a task unless they’re immediately good at it, while others explain their self-worth comes solely from academic validation. A common theme between all of these videos is that these former gifted kids deal with an increased amount of mental illness. Chronic stress and anxiety, coupled with perfectionistic tendencies exacerbated by a perpetual need to please, have left many of these people struggling. According to the National Association for Gifted Children, some believe gifted children face higher levels

of depression due to heightened sensitivities, perfectionism, introversion, overachieving behaviors, existential concerns, and feeling like they don’t fit in.

At the core of the issue is a subgroup of children all with “fixed mindsets.” A fixed mindset, as defined by Psychologist Carol S. Dweck in her article “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids”, is a way of thinking in which errors are attributed to a lack of ability, which “they feel powerless to fix.” Those with this type of mindset avoid challenges in order to maintain a status of perfection. They think all they have is their label of “gifted” and “talented”, and their intelligence is a fixed trait.

I have witnessed my peers feed into this fixed mindset and cling on to academics for any sort of self worth. I have witnessed former gifted kids obsessively check class rank and take on an insane workload simply to get a GPA that’s .001 higher than their competition. These kids often take on a course load of solely Advanced Placement (AP) classes to maintain a high GPA. Often AP classes are solely teaching to the test, learning how to correctly answer multiple choice questions rather than gaining applicable knowledge.

While high test scores and academic success are impressive, they lose all meaning when they only create adults unable to successfully self-regulate and maintain a healthy, balanced life. Those with a fixed mindset are unable to adapt and grow. They are stuck and get burnt out when challenges inevitably arise. In order to keep intelligent kids from burning out, they need to be given the tools to develop a growth

mindset. According to Dweck, in this way of thinking, people view intelligence as malleable and able to “be developed through education and hard work.” They want to learn for the sake of learning, not solely to get an A.

In order to avoid the inevitable “gifted kid burnout”, gifted kids’ mindsets need to be changed. While intelligence can predispose them to success, it means nothing without work ethic and tenacity. Instead of striving for academic perfection, gifted kids need to strive to fulfill social and emotional needs alongside an ability to adapt and grow.

A kid doesn’t need a gold star simply because their brain is wired to excel at standardized testing. People won’t be written in history for solving logic puzzles on a state mandated test that goes on to identify them as cognitively gifted. Those who are praised in history put in an insurmountable effort to make something happen. That’s what deserves a gold star. •

“I have witnessed former gifted kids obsessively check class rank and take on an insane workload simply to get a GPA that’s .001 higher than their competition.”

Spark picks up the pulse of the school by asking various students their opinions on a prominent issue. interviews and photography mary barone

Do you prefer the current or last year’s bell schedule?

HADLEY LEWIS

SOPHOMORE

“This year [is better] because my teachers stacked on homework last year since we only had class every other day. I had all of my hard classes on one day and my electives on the other so on my hard days I would come home exhausted and on my easy days I was bored.”

ZOEY GILBERT

SOPHOMORE

“I like this year’s schedule because the school day goes by faster. Last year, some of my teachers would lecture for 90 minutes and it dragged on. Shorter periods help me stay focused and I’m a pretty fast worker so I have enough time to get my work done in class.”

ANNA AKROUSH

JUNIOR

“Last year was better because we went each class every other day so we had two days to get homework done instead of one. I also got more homework done in Hawktime than Nexus because it was shorter and in a classroom rather than the gym or cafeteria.”

BRAEDEN BIERMAN

JUNIOR

“[I like] last year’s [schedule] because it felt like a lot less work because we had a lot more time. Hawk time was nice because we could actually talk to teachers and get help but Nexus is just a study hall and all we can do it work on homework.”

GAVIN COBB

SENIOR

“I like last year’s schedule because we had more time to get stuff done in class. We also had Hawktime and were able to talk to any teacher we needed. I dropped Nexus this year because it was just substitutes telling you to shut up and do your work for 45 minutes.”

FARRAH MILES

SENIOR

“I liked last year’s better because the schedule broke up my classes and it was convenient for homework. I liked Hawktime because we had a school-wide study hall and even if you didn’t need to go see a teacher, it was easy to get together for group projects and assignments.”

*freshmen were not interviewed because they did not follow East’s main campus schedule last year*

HEAD TO HEAD

SHOULD PEOPLE SUPPORT FAST FASHION?

It is said that clothing is meant to be a glimpse into the soul- I don’t know if that’s completely true, but clothing is one of the first things I notice when I enter a room. Many may attribute this to students wearing masks now, but it is honestly easier to observe outfits instead of making eye contact. Seeing five almost identical outfits from Romwe in one day throws me off. Sometimes only a few items are the same, like jeans and a crop top, but others it will get a little too similar for comfort. There is no shortage of people who would roll their eyes at these students and their fashion decisions, and in a way that annoyance is justified. Still, it bears the question: Why blame the consumer of a system that is unavoidable? After all, fast fashion, a business model that focuses on creating affordable clothes based on current fashion trends, is something so common in our lives we barely blink an eye.

The conversation of fast fashion may be entering the forefront of media recently, but the concept itself has been around for decades. Forever 21, a trend-based clothing store aimed at teenagers and young adults, was founded in 1984, while Zara, another fashion brand that is well known for their online presence, has been operating since the 90’s. Cheap clothing brands that intricately follow trends like this are not new, and neither are the exploitative consequences. 93% of the 250 fast fashion brands analyzed by the informational site Fashion Checker do not pay their workers a living wage overseas. Online shopping has simply inflated this business model to a new era.

Social media makes trends look appealing more quickly, such as a “haul”, a mass purchase of clothing from one store. So many people have started creating videos about their hauls that they have become a subgenre in itself. These kinds of videos create the idea that overconsumption is the standard for the majority of people. Videos of rich women flaunting their latest mass purchase on Youtube and Tiktok seem to always find their way onto the “For

You page”. It hurts to see this massive amount of clothing get bought and rarely worn, but the average fast fashion shopper is not buying 25 items at once. According to the online global database Statistia, the average

American woman buys 31 pieces of clothing every year. The misconception that women buy 50 plus pieces of clothing creates the illusion that more clothing is being bought in these stores.

Due to the fact critics only focus on the overconsumption angle, the voices of people rightfully crying for inclusivity in sustainable fashion get drowned out despite it playing a big factor in their market. Shein, a fast fashion online store that quickly climbed in popularity over the past few years, has refused to disclose information about domestic and overseas working conditions despite the United Kingdom’s requirement to do so. At the same time, in August 2021, Shein was rated as the most inclusive sizewise out of 71 major fashion companies by the fashion site WeThrift. Many alternative sites to Shein such as Able don’t go above XXL, let alone have styles outside basics for plus sized people.

Moreover, if a sustainable brand does provide clothing for all sizes, the affordability of the clothing is limited. After all, the majority of people who buy from fast fashion brands choose so due to prices. Sustainable brands on average cost three times more than fast fashion stores, creating an accessibility divide for customers. When worrying about your budget, the Romwe crew tee is easier for consumers to buy than a similar product from Everlane for 20 additional dollars.

Even alternative forms of shopping such as thrifting have become a more saturated market. As more upper middle class people begin to thrift clothing, the more thrift stores begin to bump up their own prices, isolating their original demographic.

Fast fashion brands have made keeping up with trends easier for lower income teenagers, who for years have been isolated from fashion. For all society pokes fun at teenage girls in high school, fashion in high school is a glimpse into socioeconomic status. A Journal of Business study in 2016 concluded that American teenagers are more likely to buy luxury brands than other Western teenagers such as the French. This pressure on teenagers to keep up with fashion trends historically isolated lower income students, but affordable clothing brands give many the chance to dress cute without splurging.

In an ideal world, shoppers would stop buying fast fashion and instead find clothes in their size in ethical and safer places. Shoppers wouldn’t worry about busting their wallets for clothes that they actually feel comfortable in. If we want to achieve a sustainable and humanitarian fashion world, sustainable stores need to include more diverse body types and models in their business plan. In 2021, that is a privilege many do not have. •

Staffers Wudie Amsalu and Kaitlin Dwomoh debate the rise of fast fashion as cheap and low quality clothing becomes more popular.

columns wudie amsalu and kaitlin dwomoh photography marleigh winterbottom

The five minutes between each period is like being transported to the streets of New York. Where black platform boots, crocs, corsets, and stylish crop tops are the norm. As people rush to class, they strut the latest styles and trends that seem to last only as long as those five minutes themselves. Short and stylish are the trends that flood our halls.

It’s a constant struggle to know what’s in and what’s out, with styles constantly going through a revolving door. There is one app that can tell all. It’s not Instagram or Pinterest. It’s not even Vogue. It’s TikTok. Aesthetics such as VSCO, cottage core, and dark alternative all have quickly risen to fame on TikTok, the fastest growing social media app with more than 100 million users in the US alone.

With a simple click-on on the “For You page”, a whole new wardrobe appears in a matter of minutes. Influencers dish out fashion advice on what to wear and stylish hacks. Pushed by sponsorships, these online influencers hype up certain items which cause trends to go viral in a short amount of time. With constant stimulation from recommendations, viewers are constantly bombarded with hype items.

In turn, viewers are subtly coer to buy these clothes, often in masses known as hauls. These clothing sprees are often bought from giant fast fashion vultures such as Shein or Fashion Nova. Marketers use the use of influencers and sponsorships to reach the diverse demographic of TikTok, making it a marketer’s dream haven. A perfect platform to quickly push out new designs and outfits, that ensures that their products will constantly be in the spotlight. When items that are only older by a few weeks stop being sensationalized, they are quick to be cast to the side for the next big thing. Then the cycle continues.

An iconic and controversial example is the green Sunny Hockey dress, that after a few weeks of frantically selling off shelves, was deemed so wretched on social media that it went on to be burned and condemned by its once faithful followers. This intense cycle of click, buy, and bye is a trademark of fast fashion making it extremely unsustainable and unreasonable for not only the environment but consumers’ closets and wallets as well.

Social media countries pushing for faster microtrends, for more styles to come, the faster clothing is discarded, the quicker and greater the waste is left. Despite 85% of all textiles going to the dump each year, there has also been an increase of over five times for the production of clothing in recent years according to Earth.org. This mass production of clothing emits over 10% of global emissions, being the second biggest industry to contribute to global warming.

The whole model for the fast fashion industry is about making cheap clothing, with the U.S being the biggest culprit, exporting more second-hand clothing than any other country on earth,” commented Samuel Oteng, a fashion designer and project manager of the OR Foundation, in a recent article by CBS News. The OR foundation’s goal is to create awareness of the impact of fast fashion in the Kamanto market, where over 110,000 lbs of discarded clothing are thrown away each day. With the incredible and easy access to clothing in this era, consumers no longer see clothing as valuable, once seen as pieces that change who someone is to things that are not even worthy of an afterthought. Kamanto is just a small symptom of this problem, with hundreds of more towns experiencing these after effects.

This is not the first time fast fashion has been criticized for this cycle of constant waste. Shien, once a small upcoming online store over 10 years ago, is now an international business that ships over to 220 countries and has replaced Amazon as the fastest growing online shopping company. Over 8000 new pieces, every day for its consumers, all of which are featured on New Arrivals on their website. Pieces are made to be trendy, so quality is often exchanged to have a speedy launch. These pieces are made with low-quality materials such as synthetic polyester and nylon shortening their lifetime.

Despite the poor quality of clothes, the short lifespan, and the immense environmental impact, many still buy Shien for its low prices and larger size range. However, there are more available options due to the accessibility of this modern age. A wider range of stores from around the globe are pushing towards sustainable fashion and inclusivity. Many brands such as Maurice’s, Girlfriend, and Levi’s are focused on creating clothing that is not only better for consumers but the earth as well. Levi’s mission is to create more sustainable clothing to ensure that consumers can, “Buy better. Wear longer, and wear endurable clothes.”

Consumers hold the power to change the fashion industry for their benefit. Time and time again, the fashion industry has bent to the needs of the buyers. If they demand better, they will get better. The only way to break this cycle of waste is to start now with simple steps. First , is simply being aware of what you buy and invest in. Buy what you love, and avoid excess. Buy for longevity because less is more. Not only does it make sense financially, but it also makes sense ethically, it makes sense environmentally.•

“PERSPECTIVE”

editorial cartoon vi dao and olivia rigney

“TUG OF WAR”

editorial cartoon mary barone

mandate masks! parent choice!

What about my education?