Reply to Gifted kids in DCPS (specifically Lafayette)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think a lot of people can relate to your post, OP, even if they haven't had their child tested as gifted.  The curtain has really been pulled back this year with virtual learning, now we have hints at what goes in actual school.  My conclusion is our traditional school system is to bring a cohort of children up to a [very low] minimum standard, that is testable.  There are some kids on the screen I see (mostly girls) who are just kind of putting up with it or somehow find it okay, but it is absolute misery.  Children are capable of so much more.  I don't have a real answer for you other than we are hanging out on the waitlists of many montessori PCSs with the hope that children being able to drive their own learning a bit more has to be better than this.  It'll be a drive, but anything is better than this.[/quote]

I think we all tend to forget that Public School is meant to educate the masses.  There is a set of standard knowledge/skills we all want the population to basically comprehend.  Schools plan their delivery to the "average" student, with the knowledge that there will be some below and some above the average.  That "average" is probably a lot lower than most of us realize.  (When you are above that average and surround yourself with people above that average, it seems crazy that the "average" is what it is.) This system works because it is all about delivering that basic knowledge/skills to the most number of people.  It is a pure cost/benefit situation for society.  If they were to spend too much time/energy focused on the above average students, the pay off would not be worth it. Those kids already have the knowledge/skills the government wants its population to have.  Therefore, it makes more sense to deliver extra time/energy to focus on those below average.  My conclusion- Public School works in the way it is supposed to.  But if we expect above average students to have more attention/challenges/etc, government/society/whatever has determined it isn't worth the cost to them.  Thus, it is on you the parent to provide that extra.[/quote]

I totally agree with this. This blogger Penelope Trunk (she's eccentric but also often insightful) has been saying this for years, and argues that the best thing for more advanced students is homeschooling with tutoring. Public school serves as enormously important service for the public to get most kids up to a certain level, but its purpose is not to push the brightest. [/quote]

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