How can posters ask questions about their academically advanced kids without being criticized?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I do think they know that they are smarter* than most kids in their traditional classes whether they are in a GT program or not.

This. Kids know everything about each other, good and bad--who still wets their pants, who is best at soccer, who is scared of climbing ropes, who is best at jump rope, who reads fastest, who can make milk spray out of their nose, who always gets 100% on the math quiz, who tells the funniest jokes.

Keeping a soccer star in a team of mediocre players doesn't hide the fact that she excels at soccer. Placing her in an elite team shows her that she is skilled at soccer, she may need to train a bit, because Sue scores more often and Jane runs faster.

[Anonymous]

The categories are not just G and PG. There is HG - highly gifted - in between.

Sue the soccer stand-out still needs to learn to pass the ball and about good sportsmanship, or the coach won't want anything to do with her.

[Anonymous]

I am profoundly gifted. Yet I am stuck under a florescent light in a cubicle! Having to stare at ghastly spreadsheets!

I feel that I would benefit from a more enrichening atmosphere and brighter, more amusing colleagues.

The tragedy is that simply because I am 38 rather than, say, 11, there is no special program for me: just the relentless misery of parenthood and the bone-chilling grind of a tedious job.

I will vote for any politician that promises to rescue me from this drabness and place me in a more appropriate environment.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The categories are not just G and PG. There is HG - highly gifted - in between.

Sue the soccer stand-out still needs to learn to pass the ball and about good sportsmanship, or the coach won't want anything to do with her.

Does she have to be on the mediocre soccer team to learn this? Or could she learn it on the elite team, too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people just love saying their kids are GT or PG when they go to public schools to differentiate them from the pack. I've never heard a private school parent say this.

You probably don't hear them saying it because it's just not a relevant category. Admissions is the obsession for private school parents; gifted for their public school equivalents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am profoundly gifted. Yet I am stuck under a florescent light in a cubicle! Having to stare at ghastly spreadsheets!

I feel that I would benefit from a more enrichening atmosphere and brighter, more amusing colleagues.

The tragedy is that simply because I am 38 rather than, say, 11, there is no special program for me: just the relentless misery of parenthood and the bone-chilling grind of a tedious job.

I will vote for any politician that promises to rescue me from this drabness and place me in a more appropriate environment.

Thank you.

Party at your cubicle!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am profoundly gifted. Yet I am stuck under a florescent light in a cubicle! Having to stare at ghastly spreadsheets!

I feel that I would benefit from a more enrichening atmosphere and brighter, more amusing colleagues.

The tragedy is that simply because I am 38 rather than, say, 11, there is no special program for me: just the relentless misery of parenthood and the bone-chilling grind of a tedious job.

I will vote for any politician that promises to rescue me from this drabness and place me in a more appropriate environment.

Thank you.

But, see, because you're an adult, you have the freedom to address your own boredom. Unlike a child, who might read silently or daydream during class, you can post on web when you're bored at work!! At that's what's saved your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people just love saying their kids are GT or PG when they go to public schools to differentiate them from the pack. I've never heard a private school parent say this.

Lucky you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: smarter meaning they learn things faster and with less repetition than their classmates

And that's, arguably, the crux of the debate. If that's what smarter was (or all it got you), it wouldn't be worth much. Which is why I've got no interest in sending my DC to a program that seems to be built on this premise.

[Anonymous]

I am totally going to the cube party. I'll bring some wine and music. Anyone else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: smarter meaning they learn things faster and with less repetition than their classmates

Have seen many children like this, and they are impressive students. They are not always the same children, however, who figure things out when given a problem to solve. There are those who learn with efficiency and speed when you show them HOW to reach the end point, but they are not necessarily the same group who make big idea connections and display sparkling intellect.

A PP who noted the question: How I can best meet the needs of my (G/ HG/ PG/ idiosyncratically gifted/ or just plain great) kid?
is a reasonable question for a parent to ask before shelling out a small fortune in tuition every year.

Given the range of what people call "academically advanced" (& I would fall into the camp that does not assume "academically advanced" is gifted) each parent would need to determine what they are looking for in School X for their child. If it is really important to to you to know about accelerated math, then ask about that. Just declaring: What will you do for my extraordinarily gifted child? is too generic to be useful. It can also be offensive to everyone else in earshot, because of the presumption such a question makes about all others present.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am profoundly gifted. Yet I am stuck under a florescent light in a cubicle! Having to stare at ghastly spreadsheets!

I feel that I would benefit from a more enrichening atmosphere and brighter, more amusing colleagues.

The tragedy is that simply because I am 38 rather than, say, 11, there is no special program for me: just the relentless misery of parenthood and the bone-chilling grind of a tedious job.

I will vote for any politician that promises to rescue me from this drabness and place me in a more appropriate environment.

Thank you.

But, see, because you're an adult, you have the freedom to address your own boredom. Unlike a child, who might read silently or daydream during class, you can post on web when you're bored at work!! At that's what's saved your life.

Maybe if you repeat this enough, people will finally be convinced that HG/PG kids have no imaginations. I'm not there yet, but keep trying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am totally going to the cube party. I'll bring some wine and music. Anyone else?

Meet you there! I'll bring the guacamole and chips.

I could have written her post. She's probably down the hall from me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am profoundly gifted. Yet I am stuck under a florescent light in a cubicle! Having to stare at ghastly spreadsheets!

I feel that I would benefit from a more enrichening atmosphere and brighter, more amusing colleagues.

The tragedy is that simply because I am 38 rather than, say, 11, there is no special program for me: just the relentless misery of parenthood and the bone-chilling grind of a tedious job.

I will vote for any politician that promises to rescue me from this drabness and place me in a more appropriate environment.

Thank you.

But, see, because you're an adult, you have the freedom to address your own boredom. Unlike a child, who might read silently or daydream during class, you can post on web when you're bored at work!! At that's what's saved your life.

Maybe if you repeat this enough, people will finally be convinced that HG/PG kids have no imaginations. I'm not there yet, but keep trying.

It was a parody, sweetie!

[Anonymous]

"But for many, the appeal of the GT program is so that their child is NOT the smartest one in the room. That they see other kids with abilities like their own and get used to having to work harder in a community of peers. "

Ding ding ding. This is exactly the point. And thumbs up to the one with moving the soccer star to the elite soccer team so she could grow as a player.

Why do so many people believe that a kid can only become socially adept by being in a traditional classroom? Doesn't putting the super smart kids together allow them to focus on being kids, on all the other wonderful things that make them different from each other? Suddenly Charlie Nerd isn't the dorky smart kid - he's the one who can really play piano or draw or make the other dorky smart kids laugh.

I wish the admins would start a forum for parents of gifted kids, or a gifted education forum. Then maybe parents with questions could find answers instead of hostility.