Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Gifted students in poor educational environments

I don't even know that there is a "Gifted Community" per se. I am primarily a parent and only secondarily a parent of "Gifted" children. Most of what I do is simply parenting rather than gifted-centric. I am very sensitive to infinite differences in parenting philosophies, approaches, priorities, etc and would never presume to mentor anyone in that regard. At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, I will have to say a definite no to "mentoring" parents who "are willing to be highly engaged" but do not have "money and means." Obviously, my children live in a safe home and do not go hungry, etc. However, my engagement with my children is essentially an investment of my time and my energy rather than money and means. In my neck of the woods, substantial public and private funding support education resources for all low SES children. There are also tremendous resources aimed at educating interested (particularly low SES) parents to help support their children's education/achievements. I appreciate your earnest desire to "provide a solid support system" for this subset of parents. However, I can just imagine the potential horror on a hypothetical parent's face when I, for example, instruct her to spend 3+ hours daily driving her child to/from a "better" school. On the other hand, I would have no problems mentoring a low SES kid, especially in the type of setting that Bostonian referenced.