CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT W/ FS 4 Reflection 3

The Gifted
Mary (McKenna Grace) is a seven-year-old math prodigy who lives with her uncle
Frank (Chris Evans), a former philosophy professor who now fixes boats in Florida. His sister
was Mary's mother, a math genius who committed suicide. Frank is a believer in the simple
life and is convinced that his sister wanted her daughter to have a normal childhood. His
next-door neighbor and landlord Roberta (Octavia Spencer) helps take care of the gifted little
girl.

Now after years of home-schooling, Frank has decided to send Mary to a public
school. She rebels by showing off her prodigious skills in front of her astonished teacher
Bonnie (Jenny Slate); soon the school principal (Elizabeth Marvel) is recommending that
Mary go to a school for gifted students. That plan is endorsed by Mary's maternal
grandmother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), a bossy and controlling upper-crust woman who
wants her grandchild to take advantage of her superior nature. When Frank disagrees, Evelyn
sues for custody of Mary.

Although this sensitive man loves everything about this little girl and has lavished his
care and compassion on her over the past seven years, Evelyn's lawyer makes a good case for
all the advantages her grandmother can offer her. Frank tells Bonnie that he just wants to do
what is best for Mary, but what is that?

The film is a hopeful reminder that we must not only see these children, but must
understand, teach, and challenge young gifted minds for their sake and not ours.  
Gifted tells the story of the struggles gifted children and their caregivers encounter when they
lack access to gifted programs in their neighborhoods.