This article shines some light on why it's so challenging to advocate for gifted programs. If there's a mindset that learning=income then gifted programs are viewed as a way to maintain the income gap. Having friendships with people in the business world and those in academia, I would argue at some point the learning=income theory falls apart.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/14/AR2008071400379.htmlMy theory is that we have unconsciously taken our concern about the income gap -- a lively issue in the last several years -- and adopted the same vocabulary when we worry about how our children are doing in school, even though making money and learning to read, write and do math are different enterprises. I can understand distaste for people who build 50-room mansions with gold bathroom fixtures. But can anyone learn too much? Wisdom tends to help everyone who comes in contact with it. Ski chalets in Aspen are less useful to those of us who can't afford them.
While we are at it, why not curtail all this achievement-gap talk? Let's focus instead on the progress of every child, no matter if she or he starts the year two grades behind classmates or two grades ahead. All children deserve a chance to climb as high as they can.
