Missing link between talent development and eminence: Why gifted students abandon their pursuit of science

Jiwon Lee

Gifted and Talented International, 2021, vol. 36, issue 1-2, 93-101

Abstract: Talent development in science is a national investment as it is key to enhancing national competitiveness. However, even after undergoing a 3-year training in a science gifted academy, 8.5% of South Korea’s gifted students choose to enter medical school rather than pursuing a science or technology major. By conducting in-depth interviews with five participants, this study determines why talented students who are trained to become scientists at high schools and universities change their major to medicine. The participants were high school graduates gifted in science selected by purposive sampling according to the following criteria: Individuals entered medical school immediately after graduation, majored in a STEM at university and then entered a graduate school of medicine, and have a master’s or doctoral degree in a STEM major but changed their major to becoming a doctor. This study investigates students who have lost motivation for a pure STEM career to reflect on the educational and social driving forces that would have enabled them to continue on their path to become scientists. In addition, as it examines the current controversy over these individuals’ career choices, the study has implications for the development of talent development goals from a macro perspective.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/15332276.2021.1965054 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ugtixx:v:36:y:2021:i:1-2:p:93-101

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/ugti20

DOI: 10.1080/15332276.2021.1965054

Access Statistics for this article

Gifted and Talented International is currently edited by Sheyla Blumen

More articles in Gifted and Talented International from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().