Reply to S/O - If you were a 'gifted' kid, how does that inform your parenting choices?

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Reply to "S/O - If you were a 'gifted' kid, how does that inform your parenting choices?"

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[quote=Anonymous]I also went through a public school gifted program from sixth grade on.  My state mandated the program the year before, and I was tested in fifth grade.  It was pretty clear nobody knew what they were doing.  We also got the one day a week pull out for a little while, but then they simply started tracking kids with different sections of the same class.  The messages were conflicting (Be creative!  Well, we didn't mean that creative!).  It was very poorly handled, and by the time high school rolled around, it was all about the AP tests and so on.  Creativity was out the window at that point.  I thought high school was very boring and I felt like a misfit constantly.  I also hated the grades pressure, of which there was a lot.  I also thought that being tracked as a gifted kid made me both feel above working hard in subjects I didn't like, and feel bereft if I didn't get 100 on every test in subjects I did like.  It also made me avoid subjects where I thought I would "fail" (meaning not get straight As with no work) because I thought everything was supposed to be easy for me, so I couldn't let anyone know that some things actually didn't come instantly to me.  I also don't think the teachers really knew what to do with me a lot of the time. I agree with the poster who said that there are many educators who seemed, at least back then, to think gifted simply meant more of the same work, not deeper, broader or more creative work.

DH also went through a public school gifted program.  He hated it for different reasons.  He felt like he didn't belong anywhere.  As a football player tracked with all the gifted kids, he felt like both groups (athletes and the gifted kids) viewed him with suspicion.

As a result, we chose private school for our children - in part to avoid the tracking, and in part because we like the more liberal arts focus (more art, more languge, more music and more PE, as well as the focus on core academics).  We also like the smaller class size, which should allow the teachers to know our children better.  So far, that has been true, and so far, no one has come home upset that they want to be in Johnny's math group because that's the one for "smart kids."  Thus far, the school has handled ability grouping really well.[/quote]

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