Reply to Gifted Programs at Charter Schools?

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Reply to "Gifted Programs at Charter Schools?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The two articles barely skim the surface of the issues.  I don't like how the Slate piece derides "white and Asian" parents prepping kids for GT tests as "gaming the system."  [b]Where's the gaming in helping kids prepare for any tough test?[/b]  If my hard-scrabble immigrant parents hadn't played this "game," sacrificing time and money they didn't really have to send me to quality test prep on weekends, I couldn't have attended a NYC magnet high school, the best thing that's ever happened to me.  The complaints in the article are yet another example of how immigrants, particularly East Asian immigrants, are seen as not playing by the rules in this country - damn them, they work too hard for the good of society, and expect their kids to do the same.

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Screening tests are intended to distinguish kids' ability levels and are based on an assumption that kids have not specifically prepared for the screening test.  When kids are prepped specifically for the screening test, it skews the results.

This means that wealthy parents (who can afford tutoring companies that hire people familiar with the tests) get their kids into gifted programs over kids who are more deserving (i.e. kids who would have scored better than the little rich kids if all of them were unfamiliar with the test).

These screening tests are not designed to find the kids (parents really) who work the hardest.  They are designed to find the smartest kids.  Ideally, if they can identify under served smart kids (kids who don't have parents who are busting their asses to game the system) and offer those smart kids accelerated material, then society is much better off.

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Get over yourself already.  Intelligence must be cultivated in children, including geniuses, through hard work on the part of adults over many years.  If cultivating intelligence constitutes gaming the system, bring it on, pour it no, just do it.  And while you're at it, help especially bright poor kids find avenues to follow suit.

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