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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I haven't been posting on this thread, but it's sad that there are people out there who are so hostile to the pg population. Do you hate other kids who are outliers and try to silence their parents? Why so angy? Get help.[/quote]

The hostility is not to the kids at all; it is to those parents of PG kids that seem to take being PG way way too seriously.

I was a PG kid.  Sure, I was teased a lot.  Sure, I was isolated.  But the kind of advocacy that the parents of PG kids in this thread seem to advocate (see the sappy letter, for example) would have made things much much worse.  First, let me just say that teachers always always recognized me for what I was and were just great.  I knew that, eventually, the teacher would hand back to me a test or some work, and they would have a smile on their face that said, very kindly, "my my!  What do we have here!".

The reason I had problems with my peers was not at all my intelligence.  It was my emotional immaturity.  I could have done with some lessons on how to interact better with others.  I could have done with some lessons  on how to laugh more and take life less seriously.  I certainly didn't need my parents to annoy my teachers with letters explaining "my secret" (it was no secret to them anyway.  How could it possibly be?  Teachers live for bright students). And intervention with the principal?  Come on!  Kids hate PITAs more than teachers do.

Teachers would love to give supplemental work to your kid.  That is the icing on their cake.  But, they have to also look after kids who have real problems.  Kids whose parents are going through a divorce.  Kids who parents are being arrested (happens even in the best of schools.  Think of the senators and House members who are going through very public embarrassment due to scandals).  Kids with severe learning disabilities.  Kids whose parents refuse to admit they need glasses.  So, while it is important to advocate and help your gifted child, please be at least a little embarrassed that you have "problems" of this sort instead of the other sort.  Show a little humility.  Do it in a way that doesn't look privileged and boastful. And recognize that what you really want to do is encourage the teachers to be a little selfish and indulge in what they really want to do: have a great time working with kids that love to learn.  Maybe tell them that it really isn't that wrong to give some thought on how to help these very fun students.   And be careful about advocating too much.  The best thing is to teach your kid how to look after themselves.  That is a skill that will benefit them all their life.[/quote]

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