Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

adult authority for guiding them. That authority
is indeed more fragile for this generation’s
children than it has ever been (p. 14-17).
For children with long-standing
patterns of underachievement, adults
make better progress by responding
counter-intuitively. If children's goals
are to be "most creative," "brilliant" and
"best," or to "find their passion," and
if they believe that reasonable goals will
not be satisfying for themselves or for
those who love them, they will either listen
to compromise and reset their goals
to be more moderate with maturity, or
they will continue into life as frustrated
adult underachievers (Rimm, 1994).
Here are 3 case studies:
*Case study #1:
Andrew had an early history of
underachievement probably related to
being both gifted and learning disabled.
Math had never been his strength, but
he was an excellent thinker and a very
verbal young man. In high school, he
had reversed his underachievement,
earned excellent grades, was a star in
creative drama, and had taken the initiative
to build a "spook house" business
that had been extraordinarily successful.
He had netted a $10,000 profit from
his enterprise. His motivation, hard
work, imagination, and creativity were
remarkable and earned him an excellent
scholarship for college. His successful
entrepreneurship motivated him to
follow his passion to major in business.
Andrew earned A's and B's his
first year in college for his introductory
business courses, but his second year
included multiple math courses which
caused him severe problems. TV screens,
video games, and socializing distracted
him from his main agenda and the
pressures of a broken romance and poor
grades lead him to panic attacks and suicidal
ideation.
Counseling and perseverance
helped Andrew temporarily put his past
girlfriend in perspective, decrease screen
time, and bring reasonably successful
closure to his semester. A family session
was intended to help Andrew set
new realistic goals. Both parents were
involved and they were discouraged
and worried about their son. Andrew
explained that he thought he should
quit college and develop “spook houses"
as an enterprise because he believed
he could make them into a successful
lifelong business.
Both parents wanted Andrew
to complete his college degree. Very
reasonably, they were trying to guide
him toward taking classes in his areas of
strength, and exploring new interests to
manage his stress and to give him alternatives
for his future. His very educated
and intelligent father urged Andrew
repeatedly to search for his "passions."
Unfortunately, his loving father did not
realize that his well-meant message to
Andrew to find his passions was actually
the message that he hoped to follow by
dropping out of college. His extraordinarily
successful one time entrepreneurial
experience with the spook house
was the emotional high he preferred to
follow. A full college education would
have given him more realistic choices for
a good career for the rest of his life. Andrew
was not passionate about studying
and did not respond to his father at all.
He believed that he had already discovered
his passion and he saw no reason
for a further search or study.
* This case study has been altered to protect privacy.
Case study #2:
Letter from an adult who is still
searching for her passions:
I discovered your literature
while searching the Internet for insight
into my life (as an adjunct to formal
therapy), and what was written in your
book, Why Bright Kids Get Poor Grades
And What You Can Do About It (Rimm,
2008), resonated strongly with me. Parts
of this book felt like a narration of my
own life. Unfortunately, as a 30-yearold,
the period of my life that aligns
with that which you describe in your
book is now over.
I have been told that I am
"smart" and "bright" and I was enrolled
in gifted programs in school, but I have
always been plagued by chronic perfec-
tionism, avoidance, and low self-esteem.
Unfortunately, my achievement (or lack
thereof) thus far in life reflects that. Are
there resources available that detail any
recourse for an adult who never reversed
their underachievement problem?
Case Study #3:
Another letter concerning a search
for passions:
At the age of four, I was labeled
through testing as being gifted. I was
then "branded" the genius of the family
which often made me the center of attention.
This caused me to place a huge
amount of pressure on myself, and my
mom also pressured me to be the first in
my family to earn a college diploma. I
was praised by adults for being smarter
than others and kids who did not like
hearing this shunned me. I even felt
shunned by my siblings.
I have found it difficult to be
"successful" in any profession and I
feel a constant urge to move on when I
reach a wall. I am a "Jack of all trades,
but a master of none." First, I was a
short order cook and then I tried sales
and sold furniture, cars, and hi-fi equipment.
I love customer service because I
meet new people, learn their life stories,
and they help me to remember that my
life is not so bad.
On the other hand, my scientific
side loves space, the stars, and
learning about the physical universe. I
also find myself to be passionate about
the spiritual universe and the weird and
wonderful ways it works. My greatest
passion will always be music.
I continue to try to find out
who I am. What I understand now,
with your help, is that my aims are not
too high. I have cruised through life
just being mediocre in what I am faced
with. I work hard, but not as hard as I
could. I know that I can achieve success,
but I put too much pressure on myself
thinking that I have to be the best at
whatever I set out to do. I just wanted
you to know that those traits you spoke
of do continue into adulthood. They
can be strengthening, but can also be
detrimental to motivation.
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