Reply to Who thinks it is ridiculous when someone says his/her child is bored in school?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There's research suggesting that telling your child he or she is brighter than others can have several possible negative effects, ranging from the child thinking s/he can coast and doesn't have to put in a best effort, to instilling a fear of failure.

I also agree with the concern about creating entitled brats. That said, I support gifted and magnet programs, and I don't know how you separate classrooms without the kids figuring out what's going on. They do all know who's in advanced classes, and it's also demoralizing for the kids in "regular" classes.

We create a different set of problems if we take the view that bright kids must be entertained every minute of the day. This does the opposite of encouraging creativity and exploration because it's so very passive.[/quote]

12:43 poster here.  I think that there's a balance that can be struck.  Most school systems don't separate kids for the entire school day, just for things like reading and math, and then they're put into groups.  Personally, I think that model probably works best.  But I'm sure there are plenty of parents who will insist their kid is so gifted that they can never be mixed with *the others*.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that kids realize there are different levels and that there are other kids who might be smarter and learn faster.  (just like kids who play sports realize that there are other kids who are better at certain things.)   But I do think a lot of parents are delusional and really overplay how *gifted* their kid is.   Or they just get so hung up on it, that they can't see that even if their kid is really smart, it doesn't mean the kid can't learn from other kids who may not be as advanced in math or vocabulary but bring other perspective.  When parents teach their kids that they're so special and so much more brilliant and advanced that they don't have to participate in what the rest of the class is doing, I think it mistakenly causes the kid to think he/she can't learn from his/her "lesser" peers.

but I suspect the parents who are arguing their kids are so bored because their brilliant already have their kids in the gifted and talented program.  So their arrogance goes even beyond that -- their kids, apparently, are even too gifted to be challenged in the gifted and talented classes!

The lady who is worried about her child being disappointed with kindergarten is just ridiculous.  The only reason the kid would be disappointed is if the parent has already convinced a child that young that she is so much better than her peers.  Very little of kindergarten is sitting still for stretches of time and listen to a teacher lecture.  Most of it is interactive learning.  If her child gets "bored" in kindergarten, then I would blame it on issues with socialization and not because she is not being challenged, because being in groups, being around so many other kids and interacting with them shouldn't be boring, no matter how smart the kid is.[/quote]

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