A couple of homeschooling discussion groups I'm on through yahoo have recently had long threads about gifted children. I haven't really read these threads other than a cursory skim. I have mixed emotions about the gifted label.
I feel that all children are gifted in different ways. I do think that all children are smart and that some get bored, discouraged, or lose self-esteem as a result of the ways school must teach given the number of students they process.
I used to feel strongly in favor of separate classes for gifted children. I was in the gifted and talented ("GT") program from about fourth grade through senior high. Lest you think I'm bragging, I'll be honest about the GT program in my county. The GT program is two-tiered and I was in the 'lower' tier. The higher tier was a class with only GT kids in it -- five days a week, same class of kids. The lower tier was a once a week, pull-out enrichment class (note, this is the same kind of GT program that Washingtonienne was in, but I'll get to that another time).
I view the GT class, especially the higher tier, like a haven for gifted kids, especially those kids who might be called names and made miserable in other classrooms. This is the aspect of the program I wholly support. Why should these kids be ridiculed, bullied, and harrassed? Let them learn in freedom, and at a faster pace or more in-depth, or whatever the GT class does for them.
The reasons I don't like GT is that, from personal experience, I think it encourages an intellectual haughtiness and arrogance. I viewed the kids who weren't in GT as not as smart as myself. Maybe this wasn't the worst thing in the world; in schools, kids are always ranking themselves based on something -- popularity, looks, sports ability, smarts. Well, I don't think this is a very healthy thing to be doing. As an adult, I do not try to measure up another person's intelligence or compete with them. However, I remember high school with the same eyes I had while I was there, still feeling a little better than those who weren't in GT. I need to work on this issue, but since I don't encounter anyone from high school these days, its only a latent problem. Plus, who doesn't have some kind of issues left over from high school?
Now with my interest in homeschooling, the GT program is largely irrelevent to me. Whether or not my child has been labelled gifted, I'm still going to approach her the same -- try to follow her interests, stimulate her curiousity, answer her questions, teach her skills, or find someone who can.
An interesting argument raised by John Taylor Gatto about gifted classes is that it brings the English class system into American schools. An outrageous argument, perhaps, but an interesting one to consider.
6 comments:
Certainly a good argument for gifted classes -- meeting the very real need for enrichment for some.
Thanks for commenting!
With permission, I am posting this comment from one of the yahoo groups I read:
Hi Group,
I've been thinking about this issue of giftedness for the last few months. I am firmly opposed to encouraging children to think of themselves as different from others. Every human being has the
experience of feeling different, of feeling not a part of. It has been my experience that when I search for similarities and commonalities between myself and others that my life is invariably enriched.
My personal experience with schooling based on opportunities offered or denied based on intelligence is twofold. I was kept out of some situations based on test scores and ended up labeled "paralel honors"
which I knew meant "not really smart" It made me much less likely to take risks and expose myself to making mistakes and thus proving that I was stupid. Getting good grades gave me some solace but were an end in themselves.
A good friend of mine was "really smart" and his entire childhood was based on it. He read at 3 and schools, teachers and his parents lavished him with attention about his intelligence to the detriment
of his growth in other aspects of his life. His life has not been easy for him. He was taught to think of other people as being his inferiors and he has a difficult time in his personal relationships.
I think that balance is the key. I think that there are hundreds of gifts and talents that we are all given and putting too much emphasis on any one will eventually lead to difficulty.
Blessings,
There continues to be a lot of discussion on this issue on the group.
Giftedness--one of my favorite topics.
Putting aside for a moment the issues of labelling and isolating and all of the possible stigmas for those "gifted" and those who aren't...I am amused--but not surprised to find that the Unclimber is "gifted." It seems that those with whom I find myself having most interesting conversations and closest friendships--in my adult life--ultimately end up having been marked gifted in some manner and I usually find this out well into the relationship. When I went through school "gifted" meant you scored in the top 3% of the "gifted test". One of my friends--another "gifted" student had a theory that no matter what you did you couldn't escape that 3% ring that despite efforts to diversify we would ultimately find each other--this theory formed after she met someone on a train in India who went to college and was friends with a friend of ours from our elementary gifted classes, of course as it turned out this person had been "gifted" as well. Perhaps "gifted" is just what we call what we cannot escape. --Julie
Since Julie signs in as anonymous, there is no link to her blog, so I'll put it here. Check out her September 1 post, the Question of Education.
You make a good point, but I can't help wondering about the caste system argument that maybe many of those who were not labelled gifted were tracked down and disenfranchised and their lives took a different turn because of this tracking.
I wonder about it, but I still feel for the gifted kids who find a haven in the gifted classes -- I saw many kids who were really picked on outside of these classes. It was nice that there was a place where they could be themselves and learn in peace.
Wow, Mike -- thank you so much for your encouraging comment. As a blogger, I'm sure you know how wonderful it is to hear someone say your blog is helping them.
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