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I watched a PBS program on truely gifted students, This kid shown was way above his class but when tested was not condiered gifted. Apparently there are few really gifted in a society.Gess its the difference between smart and original thinking beyond what is taught.
For what it's worth, I am the product of the GATE ( I think it was called that back then? ) program in California in the 70s. Identified early (1st or 2nd grade). Mostly I remember that I got out of a lot of classes I hated and I got to blow a lot of stuff up.
It was MGM (Mentally Gifted Minors) in California. GATE came in the 1980's when they wanted to include kids with lower IQ's but other special talents.
In our district it was a pull-out program through sixth grade. I liked it only because it made me feel special. When I was in fourth grade I stopped attending, but I had to document my G activities on my own so I wouldn't lose the MGM designation.
In junior high and high school, there were separate classes for MGM kids. They recognized that G kids were not always the high achievers (honors students) that Zarathu described, and they gave the teachers an opportunity to teach us differently. I think the G classes ended after tenth grade (not sure - that's when I left) and students either went into AP, honors, or regular classes.
I never got to blow anything up. That sounds more fun than our opera field trip.
Got anything to back that up? I would think being a subject matter expert you could teach a G&T course at the high school level without having a genius IQ yourself. I would think that what would matter would be that the teacher knows and understands more than will be taught to the students. I think a highly educated chemist with an IQ of 130 could hold their own with a 16 year old, just learning the material for the first time, who has an IQ of 150.
Yes, there are out-of-sight geniuses, the people who graduate college at 16, but they are beyond the scope of your average G&T program at President So-and-So Elementary School. Most school districts would refer them to a specialized school or university. Just as any music teacher, if they stumbled across a true prodigy, would refer him or her to someone who could teach at an advanced level.
In my experience, my G&T program (in the early 80s) existed to provide extra intellectual stimulation to above-average students (around the top 5 percent of a grade as a whole) who might otherwise have been bored with the standard curriculum, which is why the programs are often controversial. No one could argue with teaching calculus to a 12 year old math prodigy if he or she were up to it. However G&T student aren't usually that exceptional (so the social benefit it less obvious) and the classrooms often get special equipment, etc., which creates resentment not so much among the students as the teachers.
Most people have no problem with a class like AP English in high school, but they take a (literally) moral exception to advanced classes in elementary school. To them, public school is supposed to be egalitarian and G&T programs are, by definition, elitist.
I started G&T in the 4th grade in 1981/2 (yes, I had to take an IQ test). I remember we were taught a lot of computer programming. Nowadays it's not unusual for a 10 year old to learn computer programing, but in those days it certainly was. My family was wealthy and my parents bought me a computer as soon as I started taking classes. However, I know that I was the exception and that no one else would have had access to a computer were they not in the class.
We also did a lot of mentored independent projects and emphasis was placed on making presentations and public speaking. I really enjoyed it because it was about creativity and independent thinking, which was not encouraged in my other classes. I also remember having to do a lot of formal writing (typed with bibliography and footnotes) years before it was required in any other class.
I've never really thought about it before now, but much of this work has become standard fare at good public schools in affluent suburbs. However, this was nearly 30 years ago at a very mediocre school in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps G&T classes have influenced curricula as a whole? That would certainly be a social benefit.
Interestingly (ironically?), many of my classmates who remained in that town become respected and beloved public school teachers (who teach advanced classes). They took their places beside the same teachers who were so resentful of the G&T program. The school district and the town as a whole benefited from the program as they got some very good teachers out of it. Much better than the ones they had before.
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