Posted on 11/02/2019 12:06:01 AM PDT by grundle
As the city grapples with how to better integrate its schools, one Brooklyn elementary school has a suggestion: Getting rid of its gifted and talented classes.
"A test that kids sit for when they're three or four is not a measure necessarily of their academic capacity, but really a measure of the access to resources that they've had," said Kirsten Cole, co-chair of the school's Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
P.S. 9's school leadership team voted to send the proposal, which would phase out the program starting in 2020, to the district superintendent for his consideration.
The school, in Prospect Heights, is diverse. Cole said black students are underrepresented in gifted and talented classes.
"As the neighborhood has gentrified, the G&T track has gotten more and more white, more and more affluent," she said.
Most parents at the meeting were in support. But one said other alternatives, like his proposal to add diversity screening to gifted and talented classes, hadn't really been part of school discussions on the issue.
"I felt like the process that led to the G&T phase out proposal wasn't well considered, that it was set up in such a way that not everyone felt that they could have their voice heard," Michael Heimbinder said.
The school leadership team didn't recommend his proposal, with some saying gifted and talented classes are problematic by their very nature.
"I think that these programs foster a sense of entitled in these students that is not beneficial to the students themselves over the long term," school leadership team member Andrew Case said.
The vote comes as the city moves to end the use of a single test for admission to elite high schools and gifted and talented programs, which test much younger students, could be next. While some lawmakers, including State Senator Leroy Comrie, have proposed increasing gifted and talented classes in an effort to diversify the top high schools, Chancellor Richard Carranza has been skeptical.
"When you're talking about gifted and talented as a panacea, you're talking about further segregating children," he said earlier this year.
As for what comes next citywide, the mayor's School Diversity Advisory Group is set to issue recommendations on gifted and talented programs in the coming weeks.
4. Problem: Blacks over-represented in Football, Basketball, and rap music. Solution: Hire more black football players, basketball players, and rappers.
I was in a G&T track back in elementary and high school. Then engineering in college.
The people who are cutting these classes are being very short sighted. I am retired now, but over the course of my career I invented things that created dozens, possibly hundreds, of new jobs for Americans. Right here in the USA.
Eliminate these classes and the US loses part of our competitive edge in the world economy. Especially if they are eliminated in favor of insuring mediocrity.
I wonder what they mean by "talented" ?
Thanks, now I remember. I seem to recall that the man (with the headphones) was married to a woman of average intelligence and was the object of her pity and regret because of the impact of his “disability” on their lives.
To be honest, I don’t remember much more; to include whether or not I actually finished the story. I’m going to look it up and read it (again?).
😀
“A test that kids sit for when they’re three or four is not a measure necessarily of their academic capacity, but really a measure of the access to resources that they’ve had,”
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Wrong! Big fat F for you!
A test that tests math and reading skills is BLIND to anything other than the relative levels of math and reading skills.
Everything else is made-up NEA lies.
Want more diversity in G&T classrooms? Teach them right when they’re young. Stupidos.
Many people pay high taxes to the school system and don’t even send their children there.
We all should be pushing for public school spending to be cut drastically and for taxes to be lowered.
I would like to know just what test they are giving to 3 and 4 year olds?
Smart people wear little radios in their ears that emit noises to interrupt their thinking. Harrison, as a genius, has to wear full-size earphones.
Well, yeah, public school is a government program, and government programs use tax money.
We all should be pushing for drastic cuts in government spending and big cuts in taxes.
Public schools should be a low-cost safety net and nothing more.
Don’t just abolish the “G&T” programs … abolish government schools.
Testing the waters... for what?
Most people already hand their children over to the public school system.
And now, even freepers are complaining that a public school is cutting something.
You must have an educated populace for our republic to survive.
Look at all the people here complaining that a public school might cut a program. What happened to this forum? LOL.
I didn’t send my children to public school, but I understand why other parents do. They’re paying taxes for it, so why not? Right?
However, even if I had sent my kids to public school, I still would’ve wanted spending cuts. Same with music and sports programs - all those things should be privatized. Public school should be a low-cost safety net.
Just search for “Harrison Bergeron”; there’s a pdf you can read for free.
If you had finished the story back then, you’d probably remember it.
My thanks to you both for the story details and the search information. Already copied to the desktop for reading later today. Nice to see it is a short short story.
Public school should be a low-cost safety net and it shouldn't be compulsory.
I notice those commercials every night and keep a mental list of companies not to buy from.
Fast forward 30 years to survey GATE for my kid and saw subjective learning, group discussion, group work, kids being taught that their opinions mattered more than facts. Entitlement strong since the Dewey socialization aspect is emphasized and the best kids were the ones who thought the most highly of themselves.
Now, that was my district. So formed a little homeschool with other parents and hired a tutor. Within 3 years, the kids were ready for college. One went directly, others went to public and private schools.
I recommend touring every school private and public within a 40 minute drive of home. Walk in like you own the place and no one stops you. Look at the texts, look at the work displayed, observe the classroom setup, the boredom of the kids. Even ask kids if they like that class.
Frankly, the textbooks tell 75% of the story. They're a complete mess nowadays with 4 fonts, 3 pics, broken up text, on every page. Messy to look at, stultifying to study. Kiss of death=subject not taught chronologically and hierarchically.
Getting a kid educated today is the most arduous task any parent faces. Not every parent is good at homeschooling. Not everyone can afford private. But what you can do is work with school counselors to tailor a program for your own kid, whether the kid moans and groans about it or not! Like I said, there was nothing simple about educating a kid from pre-school through college graduation!!
I think if you can get your kid interested in reading and learning at an early age, its half the battle.
My son finished 10 years at a state university and has his PhD in plant genomics and biotechnology. He is a research scientist, working in a different state now at one of their universities on a project for DARPA for our DOD.
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