A question underlying the novel is, what does it mean to be human? Human Growth and Development is the name of the course the gifted students need to make up, but it also expresses the novel’s main theme. Being human means growing and changing, making mistakes, developing our gifts, and striving to strengthen our weaker areas.

The gifted students need to grow in their understanding of themselves as human, capable of feeling, acting, letting go, and making mistakes. Chloe wants to experience social interaction. Noah needs to learn that he is capable of making mistakes, no matter how high his IQ is. Donovan and his friends, Daniel Sanderson and Daniel Nussbaum, need to see the gifted kids as fully human and capable of feeling. Dr. Shultz needs to develop patience and the ability to listen and to see all students as having potential. Mr. Osborne and Ms. Bevelaqua need to see students as more than just an aggregate number arrived at by testing. Only Ms. Bevelaqua demonstrably fails to change over the course of the novel.

The novel’s events suggest that achieving growth requires learning to balance nature and nurture. Donovan is impulsive by nature. The gifted students are highly intelligent by nature.