Leaving Behind the Talented July 5, 2008
Posted by thinkphd in : Miscellaneous , trackbackA recent article in the DeMoines Register entitled Professor: Don’t Leave the Gifted, Talented Behind by Megan Hawkins hit a nerve in me. Two of our children were “gifted,” but the programs in their schools left much to be desired. The programs were essentially opportunities for more field trips and exposure to depth in their subjects. They were able to use computers and one game they still remember was The Donner Pass. The students had to make decisions all along to get the party across the Pass. They also worked mind teasers and math problems. Even though the classes were for gifted students, none of the activities were challenging; they were more like enrichment than anything else.
My children also experienced jealously from other students because the gifted students were pulled from their regular classes on certain days of the week. All of the extra activities also were not funded by the school - parents of gifted students paid for the trips and materials. I was able and willing to pay, but I know that this was a hardship for some parents. Were some students not included in the program because they could not afford it?
I suppose the gifted programs were better than nothing. They gave my children greater access to the teacher as the classes were smaller. However, they were rarely challenged intellectually. The benefits may have been minimalized by the social stigma of differentiation. If the program could have been all day, every day, it would have given greater results. The children ended up doing very well in college and getting a good start on their careers. Would they have been able to do this without their gifted programs? I believe they would have been just as successful. The gifted programs helped with their boredom of school, which is common to those with high intellect.
In the 60’s when I was a child, there was no gifted program. My second grade teacher developed a program for the few of us who were doing well in reading. She sent us twice a week during reading time to a fifth grade classroom. We read with the fifth graders instead of our second grade classmates. I remember sitting in the big fifth grade chairs and reading stories that made more sense than those that I was reading in my class. By the time I was in the fifth grade I was reading everything I could get my hands on…..and bored (again) with reading class. Perhaps my lifelong reading and comprehension skills were the result of one creative teacher who tried to make a difference in her students.
The article reminds us that NCLB is an effort to bring underachievers up to a higher level. At the same time, it ignores the high achievers. Even the title of the law refers to “no child left behind”….but we consciously and purposefully leave behind talented students by not developing programs that make a difference in their lives.
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