La Texican,
Think it through. In the case I described, the gifted third grader essentially skipped third grade academically because of the third/fourth grade grouping she was placed in. Furthermore, she excelled academically at the top of fourth grade while she was actually a third grader, and so she became part of the fourth grade "smart kids" peer group while she was a third grader. The following year, the gifted third grader became a fourth grader, and she was essentially held back a year in advancing one grade level because she had already completed fourth grade the previous year as a third grader.
As it played out, the gifted third grader � my daughter � became uncomfortably socially isolated as a fourth grader. She tried to compensate by actively dumbing down in order to fit in. In every way, she tried to submit to the group, and the group was being led by a devilish little girl who was very good at maintaining her sway, which at times meant being aggressively unkind to others. It was a bad situation that showed no hope for improvement.
I insisted to the local public school district that my daughter be allowed to skip sixth grade. As a general rule, my local public school district does not allow students to skip a grade, so the school district resisted me at every turn. I finally prevailed because I promised to accept all responsibility for the outcome if it turned out to be bad.
Well, for my daughter, skipping sixth grade turned out to be good in every way. She flourished as a result, both academically and socially � and she also became very self-confident in her own person. She became editor-in-chief of her high school student newspaper during December of her freshman year, and remained in that position for the remainder of her high school years. She graduated from high school at age 16 and earned a full-ride academic merit scholarship to the Robert Donald Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon, from which she graduated at age 20 after completing a double major. She finished writing her first novel at age 23, and could be a well-known writer before she reaches age 30.
Steven A. Sylwester
