Most of what we know about the gifted pertains to those with high IQs, but Winner shows that children gifted in art or music face the same problems that confront the high-IQ child notably, social isolation. High intelligence has been assumed to underlie giftedness in any area, but Winner shows IQ to be unrelated to giftedness in art or music. High-IQ children are not necessarily "globally gifted, " but often have sharply uneven intellectual profiles. The link between giftedness in childhood and success in adulthood is fragile and tenuous at best.
Winner castigates schools for wasting resources on weak educational programs for the moderately gifted. Instead she advocates elevating standards for all, while strengthening programs for the extremely gifted.