"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.
At 3 and 4 years old the best access they can have are shhhsh 2 parents. At 3 and 4 they are learning from their environment and it will show if parents or others are actually working with these young children. I guess they don't want to expose how many young children are neglected when it comes to spending quality time with them.
The school, in Prospect Heights, is diverse. Cole said black students are underrepresented in gifted and talented classes.
gee, I wonder why that is. /sarcasm
"As the neighborhood has gentrified, the G&T track has gotten more and more white, more and more affluent," she said.
Probably the most honest comment in the whole article. The real problem is that if you have classes for gifted students, then you need teachers that can keep these students challenged and learning. If i recall correctly, when they started these gifted or talented programs, it was because these students were bored with the curriculum and were losing interest in learning and in school.
"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.
I call BS on that. What kid, even gifted or talented feels entitled to harder classes and more work? No, its more likely that having these programs and classes made other kids feel inferior or the parents of the non gifted felt it singled their kids out as 'average'. Dumbing down or holding gifted kids back is never the answer.
It is if the entire goal is equality of outcome. Democrats are married to absolute equality. That means, literally, "fairness" instead of freedom.
There are too many children who would question "The Choco ration is increased from 30 grams to 20 grams." They might even start asking questions about how the last Five Year Plan didn't show the progress the State said it would.
We've voted our way half way into the lion's mouth. We are going to have to shoot our way out.
This has nothing to do with the students and everything to do with socialist adults.
Having gifted students is a giant, blinking ad for the reality that we are not all the same. So it has to go.
Blaming the “affluent” for ruining/whitening the gifted program doesn’t get past the first set questions. Because the affluent can relocate or choose private schools; then what?
These “educators” would rather drown the intelligence of black kids than be forced to acknowledge that there are others that are smarter. Especially if those others are white.
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!!