Currents

Life in the Fast Lane

Volume 6 / Issue 4 / Summer 2006

Exploring life in a residential high school, Nurturing Talent in High School: Life in the Fast Lane (Teachers College, 2005) shows how the combination of rigorous academics and residential life creates an environment that accelerates the pace of development for gifted students. Author Laurence J. Coleman spent a year on the campus of a public residential high school—living in the boys’ dorm, observing classes, eating at the dining hall, washing clothes in the laundry room, pulling all-nighters, going to club meetings and student government sessions, sitting in on disciplinary meetings, and attending performances and sports events. Participating in the student experience allowed him to study closely the program characteristics, learning community, and social system at the school and the influence of these factors on the students. Academic and residential components of the school and how students function in these arenas are revealed through comments from the students themselves and through the anecdotes Coleman gathered while hanging around with them. Written as a qualitative study for professionals in gifted education, the book also provides insight into residential schools to parents and students who are considering them as an educational option.