Are we leaving gifted students behind?

Ian McKeachie is a freckled 15-year-old who "drifted along" in elementary school. Not because he didn't love to learn or because it wasn't a good school, but because he mastered new concepts so quickly that the classroom work presented no challenge.

"My teachers would usually use me as a tutor for the other kids," he says, "so I was engaged in school, just not in a way that had me learning."

I just finished a book about the Amish. There was a study of Amish kids performance (in various proportions in schools) vs public school kids.

Best performance was Amish kids in a parochial school with only other Amish kids.

Right up next to that were Amish kids in a PUBLIC school that only had Amish kids.

Far behind were bvarious proportions of Amish kids including over 50% in public schools and last public schools with no Amish kids.

What that would suggest is that RESPECT FOR THE TEACHER, ORDER AND DISCIPLINE in the classroom are key along with parental involvement at home.

Obviously even less than 50% of a class that is undisciplined wrecks it for all.

I won’t claim to have been a gifted student, just more able than most.
I was bored out of my skull through most of my public school days. My parents taught me how to read before kindergarten. We had no TV yet (very early 1950s) so reading was our entertainment. In the 1st grade I was often admonished for being ahead of the rest of the class. I read our reading book, “Fun with Dick and Jane” the first day. While everyone else was struggling to read “See Spot. See Spot run.” during class I’d be staring out the window and daydreaming. The rest of elementary school wasn’t any better. I developed an intense dislike for rote homework but did well enough on tests to pass with low grades.
High school wasn’t much better, I continued to brush off homework and max my tests and quizzes. I was even called in to see a shrink, the school wanted to know why I did so well on tests but seldom did homework. If they had asked me I would have told them. The interview didn’t last long and the shrink determined I had too many chores at home! My parents weren’t happy and thought I had fed the shrink a line of BS.
All this led to a humorous time as graduation approached. Our Advanced Math teacher demanded we turn in every page of back homework. I was hundreds of pages behind. At our graduation rehearsal she stormed in and read the list of people who would not graduate if the homework wasn’t turned in. I didn’t care if she did fail me, I had more than enough math credits. She wasn’t happy when I was handed my diploma. Her expression made my day.

I will say this though; this situation is nothing new. It happened to me throughout Grade School, Middle School AND High School. It made me very poorly prepared to face academic challenges when I was in college, and the material actually required me to give some effort to understand it.

Boy is that a familiar story.

I too hadn't learned study or note-taking skills in high school or earlier because I didn't need them. Once I hit college and later grad school I definitely needed them!

I wouldn’t want my child bumped up and going to college at 16 years old immature. The article is about a kid that acts as a tutor to peers because the coursework is already mastered. This is not a bad thing. Teaching and tutoring is a skill that needs to be developed as the child will likely be filling a management role in the workforce. I would be happy with this role for my child and encourage further learning on his own time out of school. I’d rather he be helping others learn than moving on and out of the house when he is not emotionally ready. That’s just me.

Khan Academy is an excellent resource for teaching concepts, but not all children can learn by sitting in front of a computer screen - many will seek electronic distractions with more feedback instead. But it works well for homework concept help and home schooling families.

I hope this girl is getting extra credit when she does this stuff. as for going to college, there should be an age limit as to moving onto campus and frankly anyone under the age of eighteen should end up taking courses online. The last thing colleges and universities and parents need is an Emily Beresfield situation on their hands.

The last two years of high school are mind numbing for smart kids. They have too much time to ruin their attitudes and characters during this period of busy work - amoral nothingness.

This is where teens lose their own motivation and minds and learn to follow the lowest common denominator of the herd like good little, dumbed down conforming socialists.

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