I belong to another message board I joined when I got pg with my son. I check in periodically since many of the topics are interesting and the board is very active.
Well, someone asked about getting their child tested for their local schools gifted program.
WOW!
The responses were alarming to say the least. I know of two people on the board that responded who are public school teachers and my jaw dropped at the responses.
Ladies and Gentlemen - our gifted kids really do have a hostile world waiting for them.
Everyone commented that grade skipping should never happen as children should "be with their peer". Both school teachers said they would never support self contained gifted classrooms and pull out programs should not be very often. Another commented that there were no "true" gifted children and many programs are a hoax to make parents feel good.
I held my breath and commented that while many school districts have varying standards, there are some very clear universal standards in the world of "gifted" and there was such a world that existed - you just really had to look for it. I also commented that the type of program to best fit the child would correlate with the individual child - as a mildly gifted child has very different needs from a profoundly gifted child.
But really, I saw again why we do need to be advocates every day for our kids. It's also funny how no one would argue that athletes should be able to compete with their ability peers as opposed to age peers. Michelle Wie was not only encouraged to turn pro and compete against other more her level (although she only had limited success on the junior golf circuit) - she was given corporate sponsorships to compete. Many baseball teams and basketball teams draft kids straight out of high school to go to the pros. I just really don't understand the hostility towards children that are intellictually gifted. But believe me, the hostility is there.
I just saw an opinion piece today talking about "what is wrong" with kids today. A sentence for the piece went "maybe it is a result of all of these supposedly gifted programs that give kids inflated self-esteem".
I wish I were making this up!!!
