Reply to Have we gone too far with TAG in PGCPS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

But that is the luck of the lottery. The lack of spaces could be why PGCPS designated more TAG-only schools. I don't think that certain TAG kids deserve more than other TAG kids. There are too many variables. 
 [/quote]

I don't see it is certain kids "deserving more" than other kids; rather that [b]ALL children deserve to be challenged[/b] and educated appropriately.  [b]I also believe that all children deserve to have a peer group of children with similar intellectual characteristics and abilities.[/b]  If that can happen in a neighborhood school, so much the better.  We have a great neighborhood school, [b]but highly gifted children are not challenged there in the way that they are at the TAG center school -- although [/b]I think the center school certainly has room for improvement.

Why do I want my kids challenged?  I don't want them to grow up thinking that learning is easy and will always come naturally to them.  I want them to learn from an early age how to work hard to master things that are difficult!  I want them to be confronted with interesting, new ideas every day, and not come home from school thinking that there is nothing in school to learn.   I want them to be challenged with new ideas, and with the knowledge that they have to work hard, be organized, that they can't just coast through school.   I also want them to be interested in going to school.  I know that's what most parents want for their kids.

[/quote]

Have you been to one of the TAG schools or had your children there?

They aren't being challenged they are being forced to spend hours upon hours of memorizing things and then spitting it out in writing as well as diagrams.  The kids are bussed in and can easily spend 2 hours a day on the bus and they are then given 3-4 hours of homework every night and that doesn't include the reading logs or the biweekly book reports that accompany them.  Really, what kind of life is that for an elementary school kid?  That leaves no time for riding bikes, climbing trees, or being a kid.

These kids aren't doing art more often they are just given more languages to learn and more work to do.  While completing it all can indeed be challenging it is not exactly the way children should be challenged.  They should be taught to question why things are and not just repeat what they've been told why they are. If that makes sense.

I want to bring this up and say just because children test into the same percentile on a standardized exam does not mean that this will be true. You can be a certified genius but still not have the same intellectual characteristics and abilities. [/quote]

Of course any test or testing process will have its limitations.

But still -- even if someone tests as a "certifiable genius" chances are better that they will have similar intellectual characteristics and abilities, if they have the opportunity to be grouped with other students who test similarly.   It is not a guarantee, of course, but their chances are probably much higher than if they remained in their heterogenous, neighborhood school.

This is one reason why programs like CTY and Duke's TIP exist -- as a way to gather together in one peer group, children and teens who are highly gifted.[/quote][/quote]

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