Across classrooms and kitchen tables, adults still talk about “gifted” children as if brilliance were a fragile heirloom that must be protected at all costs. Science points in a different direction.

The term "gifted" has been around since 1916. At the time, it was used to describe children with higher-than-average IQs, and was first used by psychologists Leta Hollingworth and Lewis Terman. While ...