Unfortuntely, we don't have school figured out like I thought this year. My son is giving push back on leaving the GT school now. He is afraid the honors program will be too easy....ughh. He's also worried about leaving friends he just made last year at the GT school (even though he has just as many friends at the local middle school since he's be doing activities locally.) Sadly, he's afraid of the "perception" of him leavimg and what the kids still in his GT class will think.... He's such a worrier. He's been saying he's worried he "won't get into a good college" or that he "needs to do this and go to an early college H.S.or IB high school or he won't get a good job someday." Yikes! I am really worried about the stress he's put on himself. We've told him repeatedly that these concerns are not something to have at 11yrs old but it's not getting through... We've reassured him that it's about life balance and his childhood only happens once.
I think this is reinforced, somewhat, in specialty programs. I know when I pulled my kids out of the gifted magnet there were rumors going around that they'd been "kicked out" because both were asked by peers, point blank, if that were so. Part of the culture of some magnets is the perpetuation of the idea that somehow or another, magnet kids are more special than others. (Our county is particularly bad for that so admittedly I may be somewhat jaundiced in my view.) Add to it the emphasis in school of "you have to do well in elementary or you won't get into a "good" middle school, which limits your choices for high school, which means you'll be unable to get into a good college...pretty soon, a bad day in second grade has you spending the rest of your life panhandling for change at the bus station. Especially true for our high anxiety type kids (of which I have two ::::sigh:::: )
