As he examined the evolution of public education in the 1920s, Baron Pierre de Coubertin noted a tendency to push the development of the gifted and talented too fast.  He sought to ensure that every child had the time to develop at his or her own pace, emotionally, intellectually and physically.  He wanted each student to have a chance to fully enjoy childhood.  In this passage from the “Educational Use of Athletic Activity,” a speech given to the International Bureau of Sports Pedagogy in November of 1928, he used an analogy from nature as a cautionary tale.

“Precocious development is rewarded. This is a general flaw in education these days. Our contemporaries seem to want to hurry the growing season. By nearly eliminating springtime, they think they can prolong summer, i.e. the period of full production. Nature scorns such schemes, and soon claims her rights. Beware the early fall and winter. By forcing the flower, you may merely make the leaves drop all the sooner.”