Reply to Will Deal challenge a smart kid?

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Reply to "Will Deal challenge a smart kid?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]HS counselor here.

OK, so don't believe it. Believe whatever you want. Believe that differentiation in a Deal humanities classroom where some students work below grade level, others at grade level, and others ahead of grade level (possibly 2 or 3 years ahead) provides the best possible preparation for high school for the "smart kids" in the room. If differentiation in the classroom was guaranteed to bring out the best in every advanced MS student living in NW, why would any municipality in the country bother funding and running full-time middle school GT programs? This discussion pertains to challenging "smart kids" at Deal, not average kids.

If you really want an answer to your question, consider attending an open house at the Takoma Park MoCo MS Math/Sci Magnet, or the Eastern MS Humanities Magnet in Silver Spring, or, better yet, the Hunter College MS in NYC (they admit around 6% of 5th grade applicants).  [/quote]

Cities have G/T programs because middle class parents demand them, not because the research suggests that they are necessary or beneficial  . The vast majority of freshmen at Ivy League schools didn't have access to programs like Hunter, and they do just fine. It's okay to take differential equations in college rather than high school.[/quote]

Let me guess, the view of a white guy or gal who grew up comfortable.  If I hadn't had access to strong full-time GT programs in the upper elementary and middle school grades growing up in a NYC housing project, my life would definitely have turned out very very differently.  I certainly wouldn't have scored high enough on the SSAT to attend Bronx Science. There is in fact a corpus of academic research proving that such programs are enormously beneficial to poor kids with the aptitude and supports to accrue the benefit.

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