Reply to What can be done to level the playing field?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How about closing the achievement gap from the top down by eliminating so-called “gifted and talented” programs like NYC has done?[/quote]

I would suggest going the opposite direction and try to meet all children where they are when possible.[/quote]

But the GT programs are elitist and cater only to the privileged.[/quote]

What if we reconceived what "gifted and talented" means and designed better programs that that didn't just cater to privileged people?

But this gets at what I actually think we need to do, which is alter our priorities around education. We focus too much on getting all children to meet academic standards that don't always reflect the skills needed in adulthood, and need not be consistent across the board. I'd be interested in more tracking programs like they have in Europe and Asia, where students are tracked not for "giftedness" but based on aptitude and interest in different sorts of education and career goals.

I also think we have weird values systems in the US where we treat some fields as significantly better or more worthwhile than others as though it is feasible or desirable to have an entire nation of engineers or lawyers. It's not! I think we need to find a way to have actual cultural appreciation for a broader range of fields. This is not even just based on money, either, because for instance many industries get very little respect but are actually highly paid (many of the trades, for instance). I have seen parents who work in less-respected fields like teaching or trade work who become obsessed with their kids going into high status field regardless of aptitude or interest. It's silly and serves no one.

Of course, if we had a robust social benefits system it would also be easier for people to choose lower paying and lower status fields out of interest and aptitude because they wouldn't have to worry about needing a certain kind of job in order to pay off their loans/pay for they children to go to school/get healthcare. Subsidize education and healthcare and a lot of fields that don't currently appeal would magically get more appealing.[/quote]

I agree that tracking is the way to go.  Bring back vocational technology programs, and even high schools.[/quote]

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