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In our district they are calling them 'highly capable' students, I guess to avoid the whole stigma that goes with the word 'gifted'. The gifted program accepts kids who score in the top 2% for their age group. Clearly not all of these kids are the next Einstein, but that doesn't diminish the fact that they are well beyond the standard curriculum and need a more challenging environment than their peers. Doesn't matter what you want to call it.
It seems like most kids get identified as "gifted" Those who don't the parents want identified as ADD ADHD or borderline autistic so they have something to blame besides themselves for their non-"gifted" child.
Fact is all it means is a kid has developed good study skills, motivation, work ethic, and/or drive to succeed. Those marvelous gifted and double or triple gifted students are usually no different form other top 20% students by the end of high school. They only end up as valedictorian or salutatorian is their "gift" includes how to take only non-challenging classes so their GPA remains perfect. Otherwise, they end up somewhere inthe pack with lots of other gifted and non-gifted elementary school students who end up in the top 20% or so at high school graduation.
What we found the division does is create divisiveness between kids. Make some kids fell superior while others feel inadequate and create unreasonable pressure ont eh "gifted" student to continue to outperform the other "gifted" students (meaning they end up miserable).
Elementary school and even middle school shod be learning to love to learn. There is no need for a child to do calculus in 7th grade, it really is not going to do anything for them, except make them generally hated.
Our 5 kids were all designated "gifted" at some point - we fired out what BS it all was pretty early so we kept our younger ones out of such programs and saved them from the fate of their older siblings. What "gifted" is is a lable schools found necessary to satisfy the egos of parents who find their self worth in proving their kid is better than all others.
No, that's bright. There's a difference between bright and gifted. Sure, there are bright kids that are advanced due to hard work, study, discipline, tutoring, grooming, etc., and then there are gifted kids who excel, but not necessarily due to hard work and study.
So, for instance, my first husband has a genius-level IQ. He never studied, and yet school, at every level, was easy for him. In every subject. And he was musically talented, and a brilliant writer. He excelled in intel school and when he took the DLAB for language school for Arabic, one of the most difficult languages to learn. He was the top of his class. Only one other peer scored high enough for the position. He excelled as an intel analyst.
And yet, all of this came easy to him, and he was a voracious reader and the kind of person absorbed in thought and asked tough questions.
He's also suspected he's on the "high functioning" end of the autism spectrum, formerly known as Aspergers.
Contrast that to, say, one of my cousins, who studied hard during her school career, was involved in extracurricular activities, was highly disciplined, etc., and got into UCLA. She had to work really hard to stay on top of her studies and be disciplined enough to be at the top of her class. She was bright. Her parents supplemented her education and they supported her goals. They stressed great grades. In contrast, my first husband's parents were rarely involved, practically absent, and didn't care about their kids' education and definitely not higher education. I remember the two of us talking about our high school experiences and study skills and I remarked that I wasn't a great test taker. He responded that he never studied, and only did homework on occasion, played tetris during class, and still got an A in trig and pre-calculus. For most people, math requires some studying and practice, even bright people.
Some gifted individuals may struggle in some areas, but for many, academics don't necessarily equate to hard work and study.
Last edited by Metaphysique; 05-01-2017 at 03:04 PM..
When I was at school we used to use the word clever. Some kids were cleverer than others at some things. Other kids were just generally cleverer and some kids were more studious and worked harder.
My father was a university professor with mainly post-grad students. He said he only ever had one genuinely original student. I had a friend who had been a teacher in the New York public school system. He said that he only ever had two or three kids who were extraordinary in a long career of teaching.
In secondary school we were streamed; four streams, A, B, C & D. The 'generally clever' kids were usually to be found in the A or B stream for just about every subject. You would often find the hard workers and studious kids there too.
The average kids would be in the C & D streams. They would be joined there by the lazy and 'could do better' gang (that would be me) as well as a few hard working but not very bright kids.
The D stream were known as the 'Dregs'. I was in D for French which is hilarious because I subsequently became fluent in the language. Perhaps the quality and manner of teaching had something to do with that.
I had a friend who was a very good mathematician. He ended up becoming an electrical engineer and then opened a restaurant. He was pretty average at just about every other subject. But there was no such thing as a 'gifted' program. He was just in the A stream for Maths with a teacher who tried to adapt the class for kids who were good at the subject.
My daughter did her last year of High School in the UK. She had grown up in Geneva when I worked there and French was her first language. So when she did her advanced higher (Scottish system) in French, they didn't put her in a class. The teacher just gave her assignments to do in her own/study time and met with her a couple of times a week. Now she is living in Brooklyn, working for a Big 4 in Manhattan and never uses her French.
I question whether a gifted program is necessary or appropriate.
It seems like most kids get identified as "gifted" Those who don't the parents want identified as ADD ADHD or borderline autistic so they have something to blame besides themselves for their non-"gifted" child.
Huh? Many children with ADHD and/or autism can be very good at certain academic tasks; neither diagnosis is a euphemism for "poor learner". My two older both kids have both diagnoses. One is pretty average at schoolwork, although she's quite talented at art and music - nothing really out of the range of normal, though. My other child, however, works well above grade average, has essentially a photographic memory, perfect spelling, can name you the composer for hundreds of classical pieces just from a few notes into a song, and reads several chapter books a night. I don't know if he would classify as gifted, but we just meet his learning where it's at. So, take that for what it's worth...
I heard a university professor once say that the most successful students were 'B' students. Of three people I know who went through gifted programs at school (IQ > 138) one works in a beer store, one is a security guard and the other has a Physics degree and works in a HVAC call centre taking customer service calls.
Well in today's PC world of "fairness" we must designate all kids as "gifted" Pretty sure all of our kids and most of their friends were designated as "gifted"
They are all doing pretty ordinary things now.
I keep hearing from a friend how "gifted" her 30-year-old is/was. The same 30-year-old who is working at Kinkos because he has a useless degree, zero real-world experience and unreal expectations (he IS gifted, after all). He gave up after a few interviews many years ago, when they didn't offer him an office with a view and a VP position, just because he's "gifted".
Please give us some evidence that "most kids" get identified as gifted.
Oops you left out some words. In English we include all the words in a sentence in order to understand the intended meaning. This allows us to avoid misrepresenting completely what someone said or wrote, which in America is often seen as a devious/nefarious thing to try to do, so you do not want to appear to be doing that.
Please try again. Look at the entire sentence and see whether you can deduce a different meaning. he intended meaning. This will be good practice for you.
LOL. Yes, I actually thought that, too. Because she was not looking at just one change to make something happen, she was looking ahead to a series of changes to make it happen.
I'[ll bet she was a good chess player. Maybe, you could have hired her to teach an "elective" in chess.
Oops you left out some words. In English we include all the words in a sentence in order to understand the intended meaning. This allows us to avoid misrepresenting completely what someone said or wrote, which in America is often seen as a devious/nefarious thing to try to do, so you do not want to appear to be doing that.
Please try again. Look at the entire sentence and see whether you can deduce a different meaning. The intended meaning. This will be good practice for you.
This is deflection. Either you can cite the source for your claim, or you can't, thus giving us a tired logical fallacy.
Pro tip: That source is not your subjective experience, e.g., anecdotal evidence. Since you made the claim, the onus is on you to provide credible sources.
Oops you left out some words. In English we include all the words in a sentence in order to understand the intended meaning. This allows us to avoid misrepresenting completely what someone said or wrote, which in America is often seen as a devious/nefarious thing to try to do, so you do not want to appear to be doing that.
Please try again. Look at the entire sentence and see whether you can deduce a different meaning. he intended meaning. This will be good practice for you.
No, this: "It seems like most kids get identified as "gifted"" was the whole sentence.
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