HGC letters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else totally stressed out at this decision and cannot WAIT until the Open House to find out more information about the HGC??? I'm am so anxious!! I don't want to make a poor decision. Actually DC's behavior since finding out about the acceptance to HGC has been just awful. Flying off the handle for no apparent reason, getting in arguments with people, and being rude. I finally sat down with DC and talked about the pros and cons of the HGC and that seemed to calm DC. I didn't really expect DC to get accepted so having to make this decision has come as somewhat of a shock.

Send him. Give it until Thanksgiving and if he wants to return to his home school then, he can.

It is truly not a decision that should make you so anxious.

I cannot imagine receiving the invitation and not sending my DC.

Our Principal stated wait till after the first marking quarter to decide. That's around December, I think.

[Anonymous]

Did you like the teachers at Pine Crest? I have heard some negative things about the 4th grade teachers.

I've heard the same thing. Someone told me that one of the teachers was mean and could make children cry. I also heard they have zero tolerance for any behavior issues even if the child has an IEP or 504 (and won't work with you for accommodations) and that they are quick to dismiss children from the program who have any type of misbehavior. (Because you know, gifted kids are just perfect in the area of behavior, right? That high IQ negates any type of disability or any type of strong personality. ) I also heard a crazy thing--hope it's not true--that you are not allowed to communicate with the teachers via email or in person to discuss your child's progress or anything pertaining to your child unless you set up a formal meeting. What the hell kind of program is this anyway??

[Anonymous]

It sounds like it's a program for compliant bright kids who are willing to give up most of their time and interests due to an extremely heavy work load and not geared for truly highly gifted+ children who REALLY need a self-contained gifted class where their passions and high motivation for learning leads their education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like it's a program for compliant bright kids who are willing to give up most of their time and interests due to an extremely heavy work load and not geared for truly highly gifted+ children who REALLY need a self-contained gifted class where their passions and high motivation for learning leads their education.

There are kids with IEPs in my DC's HGC class, who have had loud outbursts, so your statement is not true. But your jealousy comes through, loud and clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like it's a program for compliant bright kids who are willing to give up most of their time and interests due to an extremely heavy work load and not geared for truly highly gifted+ children who REALLY need a self-contained gifted class where their passions and high motivation for learning leads their education.

There are kids with IEPs in my DC's HGC class, who have had loud outbursts, so your statement is not true. But your jealousy comes through, loud and clear.

PP here.. forgot to add, there is another thread going on about all the E.C. and downtime activities HGC kids are doing. Plenty of these kids have time for after school activities, and time to pursue their passions (mine is mostly all things Minecraft).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Did you like the teachers at Pine Crest? I have heard some negative things about the 4th grade teachers.

I've heard the same thing. Someone told me that one of the teachers was mean and could make children cry. I also heard they have zero tolerance for any behavior issues even if the child has an IEP or 504 (and won't work with you for accommodations) and that they are quick to dismiss children from the program who have any type of misbehavior. (Because you know, gifted kids are just perfect in the area of behavior, right? That high IQ negates any type of disability or any type of strong personality. ) I also heard a crazy thing--hope it's not true--that you are not allowed to communicate with the teachers via email or in person to discuss your child's progress or anything pertaining to your child unless you set up a formal meeting. What the hell kind of program is this anyway??

Was your child accepted this year?
Has anyone else heard that parents are not allowed to communicate with the teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like it's a program for compliant bright kids who are willing to give up most of their time and interests due to an extremely heavy work load and not geared for truly highly gifted+ children who REALLY need a self-contained gifted class where their passions and high motivation for learning leads their education.

There are kids with IEPs in my DC's HGC class, who have had loud outbursts, so your statement is not true. But your jealousy comes through, loud and clear.

I try to stay away from DCUM forums because of all the nastiness that goes on on these boards bc of the anonymity. That is just rude about the jealousy statement. I do not think I am jealous (although it would certainly be easier to have an easygoing kid) but I am more frustrated and angry at the system that refuses to help certain populations of gifted kids who need it the most. In any case, I am just going on hearsay so I don't know what the HGC is actually like but it is good to hear from a different source that all behavior issues are not extinguished by dismissing students from the program quickly as I heard from another parent, so thank you for that tidbit of info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like it's a program for compliant bright kids who are willing to give up most of their time and interests due to an extremely heavy work load and not geared for truly highly gifted+ children who REALLY need a self-contained gifted class where their passions and high motivation for learning leads their education.

There are kids with IEPs in my DC's HGC class, who have had loud outbursts, so your statement is not true. But your jealousy comes through, loud and clear.

I try to stay away from DCUM forums because of all the nastiness that goes on on these boards bc of the anonymity. That is just rude about the jealousy statement. I do not think I am jealous (although it would certainly be easier to have an easygoing kid) but I am more frustrated and angry at the system that refuses to help certain populations of gifted kids who need it the most. In any case, I am just going on hearsay so I don't know what the HGC is actually like but it is good to hear from a different source that all behavior issues are not extinguished by dismissing students from the program quickly as I heard from another parent, so thank you for that tidbit of info.

PP here. Sorry, but your post came across as pretty nasty, too, at least that is how I read it.

I think, basically, the HGC experience can be dependent on the teacher/school, which applies to non HGC school experience as well. In my DC's HGC, the kids work in groups and have group discussions. It gets loud, so the teacher has stated. This teacher seems to work with the kids' strengths/weaknesses. I'm sure there are some HGC teachers that are not so great, and do demand compliance. I think most good teachers can tell the difference between kids who are being rude and just being excited/quirky. HGC teachers are probably very used to quirky/excited kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Did you like the teachers at Pine Crest? I have heard some negative things about the 4th grade teachers.

I've heard the same thing. Someone told me that one of the teachers was mean and could make children cry. I also heard they have zero tolerance for any behavior issues even if the child has an IEP or 504 (and won't work with you for accommodations) and that they are quick to dismiss children from the program who have any type of misbehavior. (Because you know, gifted kids are just perfect in the area of behavior, right? That high IQ negates any type of disability or any type of strong personality. ) I also heard a crazy thing--hope it's not true--that you are not allowed to communicate with the teachers via email or in person to discuss your child's progress or anything pertaining to your child unless you set up a formal meeting. What the hell kind of program is this anyway??

Was your child accepted this year?
Has anyone else heard that parents are not allowed to communicate with the teachers?

I don't know if your question was directed to Pine Crest HGC parents, but we are not in Pine Crest, and I have emailed the teacher regarding my DC, and the teacher has responded promptly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like it's a program for compliant bright kids who are willing to give up most of their time and interests due to an extremely heavy work load and not geared for truly highly gifted+ children who REALLY need a self-contained gifted class where their passions and high motivation for learning leads their education.

That wasn't my experience. There were definitely non-compliant kids at the HGC. And most kids did not give up most of their time and interests. It is true that there were lots of kids who are not "truly highly gifted+", but then the number of "truly highly gifted+" kids is very small, by definition, and I don't think that kids like that are well-served in any classroom anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like it's a program for compliant bright kids who are willing to give up most of their time and interests due to an extremely heavy work load and not geared for truly highly gifted+ children who REALLY need a self-contained gifted class where their passions and high motivation for learning leads their education.

HGC is for moderately gifted and advanced students, period. Their behavior runs the gamut, and some have learning disorders, just like in any other MCPS classroom. The workload is a little more heavy than in the standard 4th and 5th grade, but since most of these kids work quickly, it is generally not an issue. My gifted and learning disabled son works extremely slowly, so it would have been an issue in his case.

However HGC is a misnomer - the highly or profoundly gifted are NOT well served by the HGC. There is actually no public service available for profoundly gifted students here. The reason is that it makes little economic sense to spend public money on a handful of students, so they are lumped in with the advanced students, which often does not work out that well. Since they are extremely rare, no one cares enough to do anything else, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

There are non-compliant kids in my child's HGC class. I think that it is a challenging group to teach.

[Anonymous]

These kids might not all fit the definition of "highly gifted" but they are generally more than just "advanced." MCPS identifies almost 40% of 2nd graders as gifted, The HGC serves only 4& of 4th and 5th graders so compared to the larger group of "gifted" students (as identified by MCPS) these kids are the most capable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like it's a program for compliant bright kids who are willing to give up most of their time and interests due to an extremely heavy work load and not geared for truly highly gifted+ children who REALLY need a self-contained gifted class where their passions and high motivation for learning leads their education.

HGC is for moderately gifted and advanced students, period. Their behavior runs the gamut, and some have learning disorders, just like in any other MCPS classroom. The workload is a little more heavy than in the standard 4th and 5th grade, but since most of these kids work quickly, it is generally not an issue. My gifted and learning disabled son works extremely slowly, so it would have been an issue in his case.

However HGC is a misnomer - the highly or profoundly gifted are NOT well served by the HGC. There is actually no public service available for profoundly gifted students here. The reason is that it makes little economic sense to spend public money on a handful of students, so they are lumped in with the advanced students, which often does not work out that well. Since they are extremely rare, no one cares enough to do anything else, unfortunately.

Who are you to make such a pronouncement, the emperor? Of course there are a handful of highly gifted kids in the Center program, and at least some of them are well-served there.

My three kids have all gone through the Center program. One is at a top university now, doing very high-level work. He is definitely "highly gifted" by any definition of that term. He was very well-served by the Center program.

[Anonymous]

I am glad to hear a lot of different opinions and experiences with the HGCs. I guess when I spoke with that one mother who had her kids at PC HGC she gave only one opinion. Glad to hear other positive experiences like being able to communicate with the teacher, having a diverse student body in terms of disabilities and abilities, the need to not have perfect behavior or be dismissed, and having a workload that is not overwhelming for many children. Interesting how people have such different thoughts on the same program. I guess I'll need to take a wait and see approach and see what *my* family thinks. Thanks for all the feedback!

It is hard to read tone on these forums and maybe people are not trying to be as mean-spirited as it comes across. Maybe it's more about having strong feelings or being upset at something other than the posters themselves. Hope so anyway. We're all parents in this parenting thing together!