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We moved out of a school district because they had a special program, called "Aiming High", which separated all the "gifted" students from the rest of the school in middle school. My son did not make the cut, even though he had been recommended for the program by his teachers.

When I went into the school to discuss the program with the principal, I contended that the program was inequitable because it offered special enrichment to the "gifted" kids that was not offered to regular students. I said that it denied the regular kids the stimulation of having brighter students in the classroom and basicly condemned the regular classes to "Aiming for mediocrasy. The principal told me that perhaps the regular
students didn't belong on a college prep track because we don't need so many college educated students, anyway.

It's called goal based education. In other words the powers that be are going to pre-determine what level of education your kid deserves based on their own stupid tests and what career path they choose for your kid. In our school district that meant that none but the gifted were aimed for college.

Eva, you are one of the wiser parents. Although I live in a pretty good school district, all of them around here bus out kids for this program. I agree with you that all kids should get the benefit of a challenging education. This same teacher told us that somehow, once, she got ahold of the math challenge problems that the "gifted" kids worked on. She thought they were really good, so she used them for her "ordinary" kids. The "gifted" teacher went into a huff and told my teacher that she would have to devise another plan. IOW, whatever the "gifted" stduents needed to do HAD to be different from that which the "ordinary" students did.

As I sat in on many classes in our area, I was quite surprised, in this age of policital correctness, how aware teachers were between "ordinary" students and "gifted" ones. Although I'm a conservative who sees differences among people, I felt very uncomfortable at this characterization. Kids tend to live out the expectations handed to them. I only saw one teacher who expressly designed her lesson plans to mirror the advanced content of the courses she once taught at a private school. I was very impressed at the results of her class. She assured me that if you challenge any kids to think and learn, they will (there are always individual exceptions; I'm talking here about the group). Her "ordinary" students gave her the same level of results as did her prior private-school students. I think that's because she expected them to.

It's called goal based education. In other words the powers that be are going to pre-determine what level of education your kid deserves based on their own stupid tests and what career path they choose for your kid. In our school district that meant that none but the gifted were aimed for college.

This philosophy dates back to the origins of compulsory government education not only in America, but right back to the Prussia of the early 1800s. Fichte, the German atheistic philosopher thought it best to school the "elite" 1% in separate schools which would provide something like a classical education. Another 5% would be trained to be professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.) The remaining 94% were to be prepared for being drones. The curriculum for these children was designed to actually diminish their intellectual abilities. Especially important was the goal of diminishing an interest in self-education. Preventing them from reading was the key. The technique to accomplish this? Whole language.

The absolutely stunning history is outlined in John Taylor Gatto's The Underground History of American Education