Why (traditional) gifted education doesn't make sense

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/on-parenting/why-gifted-education-doesnt-make-sense/2014/10/07/b2bc0b8a-4930-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html?tid=hpModule_1f58c93a-8a7a-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e&hpid=z14

[Anonymous]

There are some DCPS that try to do enrichment programs akin to gifted education for all, and I appreciate that they do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some DCPS that try to do enrichment programs akin to gifted education for all, and I appreciate that they do this.

Our school does have enrichment programs (Schoolwide Enrichment Model), but it's not a one-track you're smart or you're dumb. They have different programs for students with different strengths, and also take into account potential to grow when selecting students for the different programs.

[Anonymous]

Eh, I think they are worthwhile. I have a 152 IQ and was truly, truly bored in class in elementary school, despite having been moved up a grade. Gifted classes were wonderful -- but I can't imagine most kids having the attention span or ability to do most of the work we did in those classes. We did things like write computer programs and decrypt encoded messages when I was 8 years old. I just don't know if that sort of stimulation is required for kids who are having trouble with multiplication tables and spelling. It's like asking a normal person to run a marathon -- it's a challenge that people in top condition can take on, not exercise for everyone. I am sure this will be an unpopular opinion, and I'm sure not every gifted program was as rigorous as the one I was in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh, I think they are worthwhile. I have a 152 IQ and was truly, truly bored in class in elementary school, despite having been moved up a grade. Gifted classes were wonderful -- but I can't imagine most kids having the attention span or ability to do most of the work we did in those classes. We did things like write computer programs and decrypt encoded messages when I was 8 years old. I just don't know if that sort of stimulation is required for kids who are having trouble with multiplication tables and spelling. It's like asking a normal person to run a marathon -- it's a challenge that people in top condition can take on, not exercise for everyone. I am sure this will be an unpopular opinion, and I'm sure not every gifted program was as rigorous as the one I was in.

+1

I can't stand Jay Matthews. He is consistently wrong on educational issues.

I've been following the comment thread, and he just complimented someone who suggested that the gifted kids should "stay with all the other kids and help the kids that needed extra help."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, I think they are worthwhile. I have a 152 IQ and was truly, truly bored in class in elementary school, despite having been moved up a grade. Gifted classes were wonderful -- but I can't imagine most kids having the attention span or ability to do most of the work we did in those classes. We did things like write computer programs and decrypt encoded messages when I was 8 years old. I just don't know if that sort of stimulation is required for kids who are having trouble with multiplication tables and spelling. It's like asking a normal person to run a marathon -- it's a challenge that people in top condition can take on, not exercise for everyone. I am sure this will be an unpopular opinion, and I'm sure not every gifted program was as rigorous as the one I was in.

+1

I can't stand Jay Matthews. He is consistently wrong on educational issues.

I've been following the comment thread, and he just complimented someone who suggested that the gifted kids should "stay with all the other kids and help the kids that needed extra help."

+1. Matthews has long had his own agenda wrt. gifted education.

[Anonymous]

I was one of those kids who missed the IQ requirement by one or two points, and was the next in line. I've always been an extremely hard working, straight A student and successful.

BUT I was very frustrated that I wasn't allowed into the magnet program because I could do the work.

I see both sides. Yes, gifted children need stimulation. Struggling students need support. But hard workers like me who also need to be challenged shouldn't be lumped in non-gifted track because I missed the mark on one test.

There has to be a way to challenge EVERYONE and not make anyone feel inferior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, I think they are worthwhile. I have a 152 IQ and was truly, truly bored in class in elementary school, despite having been moved up a grade. Gifted classes were wonderful -- but I can't imagine most kids having the attention span or ability to do most of the work we did in those classes. We did things like write computer programs and decrypt encoded messages when I was 8 years old. I just don't know if that sort of stimulation is required for kids who are having trouble with multiplication tables and spelling. It's like asking a normal person to run a marathon -- it's a challenge that people in top condition can take on, not exercise for everyone. I am sure this will be an unpopular opinion, and I'm sure not every gifted program was as rigorous as the one I was in.

+1

I can't stand Jay Matthews. He is consistently wrong on educational issues.

I've been following the comment thread, and he just complimented someone who suggested that the gifted kids should "stay with all the other kids and help the kids that needed extra help."

They are more likely to get bullied if they stay. I doubt if their peers would take their help anyway. Too much resentment.

[Anonymous]

I met the iq requirement but I talked too much in class. I wonder if it was because I was bored... anyway, I didn't make it into the gifted program and I felt it was very stigmatizing. And annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was one of those kids who missed the IQ requirement by one or two points, and was the next in line. I've always been an extremely hard working, straight A student and successful.

BUT I was very frustrated that I wasn't allowed into the magnet program because I could do the work.

I see both sides. Yes, gifted children need stimulation. Struggling students need support. But hard workers like me who also need to be challenged shouldn't be lumped in non-gifted track because I missed the mark on one test.

There has to be a way to challenge EVERYONE and not make anyone feel inferior.

This is true. It's not that there should be no "gifted" education, but we need to stop thinking about it in terms of "gifted" v. ordinary. Rather, how can all students be challenged no matter what their starting point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was one of those kids who missed the IQ requirement by one or two points, and was the next in line. I've always been an extremely hard working, straight A student and successful.

BUT I was very frustrated that I wasn't allowed into the magnet program because I could do the work.

I see both sides. Yes, gifted children need stimulation. Struggling students need support. But hard workers like me who also need to be challenged shouldn't be lumped in non-gifted track because I missed the mark on one test.

There has to be a way to challenge EVERYONE and not make anyone feel inferior.

That was a badly organized gifted program, with a single path to admission. Times have changed.

My niece didn't do well enough on the 5th grade MoCo RAVEN test to earn a spot in a super duper Silver Spring math/science MS magnet. However, she excelled in 6th grade honors math and science classes at the MS in which the magnet is housed. As a result, the school reached out to her parents to ask if they wanted her placed in the magnet for 7th grade. They agreed and she loves the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was one of those kids who missed the IQ requirement by one or two points, and was the next in line. I've always been an extremely hard working, straight A student and successful.

BUT I was very frustrated that I wasn't allowed into the magnet program because I could do the work.

I see both sides. Yes, gifted children need stimulation. Struggling students need support. But hard workers like me who also need to be challenged shouldn't be lumped in non-gifted track because I missed the mark on one test.

There has to be a way to challenge EVERYONE and not make anyone feel inferior.

That was a badly organized gifted program, with a single path to admission. Times have changed.

My niece didn't do well enough on the 5th grade MoCo RAVEN test to earn a spot in a super duper Silver Spring math/science MS magnet. However, she excelled in 6th grade honors math and science classes at the MS in which the magnet is housed. As a result, the school reached out to her parents to ask if they wanted her placed in the magnet for 7th grade. They agreed and she loves the program.

I'm not in MoCo, but my district also has this sort of flexibility. People that have a bad memory of gifted programs in their youth should understand that a lot of the things that were problematic have been resolved. It is far less a binary "in or out" kind of system now.

[Anonymous]

The DCPS approach (Schoolwide Enrichment Model) at the schools that it has been established at (according to their website) Ross, Hardy, Stoddert, Eaton, Murch, Stuart-Hobson, Kelly Miller, West, Johnson, and Sousa seem to be in line with the more "for all" approach advocated by Jay Mathews and supported by the research he mentions that shows that it is nonsense to use a random IQ line to decide if a kid should or should not be included in special programming.

[Anonymous]

But does the school wide model work?

[Anonymous]

I agree with him.

I tested in but missed the cut because one teacher, who had known me two weeks, decided I wasn't ready. So every day I saw the "smart kids" go off and do all sorts of interesting things while I was stuck in class doing workbooks.

It turned me off of school for a long time. In high school a couple of teachers realized I was mistracked and helped me pull out of the rut. If I sound bitter, well I am a little. When someone tells an an 8 year old they are not smart the kids hears it. Now that my DD has started school I pay very close attention to this stuff. It still happens and is can be very toxic. Especially here in DC where all the children are above average.