Posted on 03/24/2016 5:57:47 AM PDT by C19fan
Asha Richards was excited when she was admitted to a sought-after high school communication arts program, but she said it has been discouraging to see how few other black students have been in her classes during the past three years.
“I didn’t feel I could connect with my peers,” she said. “It was kind of a struggle for me. I would often be quiet in class. I didn’t voice my opinion.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This is idiotic; when are they going to start putting the uncoordinated kids as starters on the sports teams so that they are represented too?? The problem with putting kids in an AP program for which they do not qualify is that either of two things will happen: 1) they will feel compressed and put upon by an inability to keep up with the material; or 2) the whole class instruction will be slowed down to their levels. In either result, you end up with exactly the opposite of what is intended by an AP program - move the academic kids along at a faster pace so they are not bored by the slower pace in the regular classes and the slower kids don’t feel that they are being disadvantaged if you try to cover tougher material, faster. Most school districts will probably say the hell with it, give up and the bright kids whose families have money will spend it on private or religious schools.
Agree and disagree. 2 of our 3 kids were in the gifted program.
We enrolled the oldest in 3rd grade after she complained of having to help the teacher grade tests while the other kids finished them.
The second got in at 6th grade, despite a speech impediment. Through the program, he developed and published a navigation app in the Apple store.
The third qualified but didn’t want any part of the program. We didn’t force him into it.
Options are good.
“Not seeing people like me in all of these ‘smart classes’ was really isolating and didn’t make me feel good about being black”
If the primary trait you use to identify yourself is skin color, okay, that makes sense; if the primary trait you use to identify yourself is performance, then you should see plenty of people “like you” in these gifted classes (assuming you’re doing reasonably well in them).
Which suggests to me two potential problems - either kids are being urged to identify by their clan rather than by their abilities, or kids who aren’t well-qualified are being admitted to programs they’re not especially suited for just to fulfill some fantasy goal of “diversity”.
I’d be curious to find out if Pete Maravich or Jeremy Lin playing on largely black basketball teams found those experiences “isolating” - or if instead they felt “I’m so damn good I can play with anybody”.
Maryland has one of be best education programs in the country. I guess they don’t want the title anymore.
You are either gifted, or you are NOT gifted. Race has absolutely nothing to do with it.
BTW, the Maryland School District is NOT gifted.
Gifted and talented in Montgomery County Maryland? Elites find a way to isolate their children from the more common elements of society.
Too many times I've seen gifted programs used to dictate the thought process of the most capable.
It's one of the things wrong with the rigors of common core. It's results oriented, not process oriented. A lot of opportunity for independent thinking gets lost along the way.
I hated it.
I particularly hated having to focus intensely. I didn't like studying.
Years later, when I had become very successful--and very rich--I gave up the practice of medicine.
(To my astonishment--and the astonishment of everybody else--I had a genius for making money.)
To my even greater astonishment, I realized that I loved to study!
Yes! Me! Of all people!
I enrolled as a full time student with a full freshman load and started the whole thing all over!
I'm still studying! I've got homework to do right now that I'm going to do as soon as I finish surfing the internet.
I think putting myself in a situation that would force me to focus was a matter of intelligence. I had a problem, and I was smart enough to figure out how to solve it.
While I was in medical school, studying all the time, subjecting myself to a tough grind, I felt victimized. Everybody else I knew had leisure time, money, cars, vacations--fun! But I was also aware that it was a wonderful opportunity. Years later, when I had time to reflect, I realized that it was the best thing that could have happened to me. It was like a four year Outward Bound experience (I did Outward Bound too). It was a WONDERFUL experience.
And speaking of being smart, two of the smartest things I EVER learned were: "It's my own damn fault" and "Nobody can do it for me." Maybe understanding that is part of being intelligent.
Socio-economically diverse school districts are never safe for successful families. Between the district’s invariably pearl-clutching administrators and school board members and the ministrations of aggressive civil rights lawyers, programs that benefit the children of educated, married parents are always 30 seconds from the garbage.
Does your name mean Naval Academy Primary School coordinator?
Notice that the reporter ignores the test scores these students had for admittance and implies their race is the reason they are not selected as often.
Also, the tables presented do not have the associated test scores to go with them.
... Maryland ping...
When I was in the first grade, the reading groups were the Red Birds, Blue Birds, and Green Birds.
I was in the Red Birds.
I figured out that the Blue Birds were the high reading group, and I definitely wanted to be in it.
So I made sure I read really well in my group, and sure enough the teacher promoted me into the Blue Birds group.
The first time in there, she told me to read down to the end of the next paragraph. I didn't know what a paragraph was but guessed it must be where the space came. I was right. I stayed in the high reading group.
Why I was so motivated I'm not sure. For one thing, my parents expected me to be the best and to do well. Also I was very important to them, and this tended to elevate my self-esteem. Environment certainly affects motivation. I don't know how much it affects intelligence or functioning intelligence.
I don't know why I had such a high IQ.
It's possible that my parents influenced it positively when I was an infant.
Maybe it's a matter of DNA.
I think it has something to do with spirituality. I have always known of an extremely intimate connection with God and Spiritual Masters. I think I can remember this connection before birth. I can certainly remember being a child less that a year old--very well. And I know that this connection will become even clearer after this life. The connection has never been separated. I've always felt that I was only partly in this life but mostly living among Spiritual Masters, whom I'm with constantly despite the distractions of this world.
Cannot read the whole article, but it seems to me that the one great obstacle to blacks excelling in school is peer pressure.....excelling in school is considered ‘too white’. Does the article bring this aspect up?
What it boils down to is that if there are more white kids than black kids, they feel outnumbered and they resent it, and if there are more black kids than white kids, they feel abandoned, and resent it. There is literally no way to satisfy them.
“Your brat who has managed to stick his/her head two inches above the absurdly grade-inflated threshold is not gifted, no matter what the program is called or what the school tells you.”
Sometimes it’s just to separate the ones who can be saved, from the mouth-breathing bottom-feeders.
“Looks like a job for Diana Moon Glampers.”
With her shotgun of equality - lol
Perhaps she was unqualified to be admitted to the program in the first place and was placed to try to increase the representation of her particular ethnic group. I’m interested in Dr. Carson’s proposals for education reform in general and towards this issue particularly.
Close. Preparatory. It is the year between high school and beginning the naval academy.
It'll take the mere 'gifted' a while to figure this one out, but in ten years someone will notice the 'extra gifted' classes don't have enough minorities...while having too many Asians.
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