 | | | Associate Professor Wilma Vialle presents the first ‘Uni in the Brewery’ series for 2008 |
Uni in the Brewery 2008 begins . . . with pink, Paris and . . .Wilma
20 Mar 2008 | Bernie Goldie
The ‘Uni in the Brewery’ series for 2008 began yesterday evening (19 March) at the Five Islands Brewery in Wollongong with Associate Professor Wilma Vialle from the Faculty of Education making the first presentation.
Uni in the Brewery is an opportunity for the public to hear about the various research projects conducted at the University of Wollongong and to be involved with lively discussion.
Professor Vialle’s presentation, entitled “Pink or Paris? Girls, giftedness and popular culture” focused on three contemporary popular texts where ‘giftedness’ is challenged: the Harry Potter series, and the television animations, “The Simpsons” and “Daria”.
Professor Vialle discussed the images of giftedness portrayed in these texts and how these may have an impact on gifted students, particularly girls in today’s society.
The title of the presentation was taken from a song by Pink, a young woman who critiques the “empty-headedness” of many of the celebrities and images in today’s popular culture.
Is she a lone voice? Are our gifted students being detrimentally affected by the “empty- headedness” that is epitomised by celebrities such as Paris Hilton? It is known that one of the significant barriers to appropriate programming for gifted students is lack of understanding as to what constitutes giftedness.
Negative attitudes to gifted students and evidence-supported interventions such as acceleration are often the result of the stereotypes promulgated by the so-called popular culture.
What images of giftedness and gifted education are prevalent in our popular culture? And how do these images affect gifted students? These issues were discussed at the presentation.
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