Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research Article: US Schools Fail to Serve Best, Brightest

Mama22Gs - thank you for your post! What she said!

Floridamama - I've only seen the youtube clips of the documentary. My friend has ordered all 4 DVDS so I'll be viewing them in a week or two. The first 2Million minutes aired a year or two ago and followed 2 high school students each from the US, China and India. The next two DVDs each focus on education in India and China, the last and fourth documentary purports to give the solution to our *crisis.* I'm quite interested in what they perceive the solution to be.


And when I spoke w/ my DS's K teacher, she emphatically said they couldn't teach 1st grade work in K. Yet, he was writing and discussing books on a 1st grade level (he had to write the main character, plot, resolution, and setting), he brought home worksheets on fractions etc. I think she was doing it "under the table." She had him and 2 other boys in a reading group w/in 4 weeks of school. The rest of the class started in February.

And if you read SwitchedonMom's blog, the Principle had to go against ALL the higher ups in order to admit a previously homeschooled girl at her real academic level rather than put her w/ her age mates. those are the people we need to be applauding and supporting!

I have two thoughts that are always subdivided in my head. The mom and the teacher. And they rarely line up!

I have to say though that I greatly appreciate this board. I learned here that it is okay to advocate and DEMAND that my son receive an appropriate education. I felt much braver in meetings and had more research than anyone else in the room. THIS board gave me the strength to realize that my son's private gifted school was a big shiny pamphlet with nothing inside it...

We pulled him and he's in a public charter school now. It is a completely different universe and I cannot shout enough from the rooftops about how fantastic it's been so far. I know that our situation isn't for everyone but it's been amazing. I was expecting to fight... instead I got a "well OF COURSE we'll give your 1st grader 4th grade level books, why would we want to bore him?" I stood dumbfounded. Then I asked if I could substitute his math homework for something more challenging. I got an note from his teacher (different than reading) that she'd be getting a higher level workbook for him soon and she'd also use that in class. When you read stories about public education in many places, NONE of this is supposed to happen. But we somehow found it... and it's free.

Now the teacher in me- I have to defend teachers here only because of one thing- I spent two years in school for my credential and I received ONE HOUR of gifted education training. Just one. I received about 80 hours, plus one full separate class on special education needs. Most teachers do not have a clue that there are kids starting in their kindergarten class that have already mastered the 1st grade curriculum, let alone the K curriculum. Once they figure it out, the good ones make changes if they can. But there are so many levels of bureaucracy, meetings, paperwork and crap on top of that that sometimes you just give up and forget about it.

The system is broken. Most teachers know it. The unions are too powerful, the administration is bogged down in paperwork, the tests are too plentiful and not useful. And it's not the teachers' fault... but the teachers have to bear some responsibility for not insisting on change, for not forcing the issues of ability grouping and not demanding higher expectations of their colleagues and students.

I can say that from the inside, the charter school system works. I've taught and been an adminstrator in two different schools and my son attends a completely different one. I'd like to see more individualized education for all students- one that takes into account their strengths and weaknesses as people, not just their bar graph post-testing.

If we applied the same level of interest to academics as we do to sports, then problem solved. Most of the attention goes to sports, but the GT kids and their academically focused classmates will carry the water for their generation.

They become the doctors, the engineers, the leaders - and make things happen. Most of the jocks are washed up when they are 22. I was both and IMHO I loved playing, but in retrospect, my time would have been better spent in a book. I should have taken a lot more classes like accounting, law, finance - easy stuff and necessary as you move up in the real world.

CAMom - thank you so much for your perspective! We have no charter schools where I live. I hear the bureaucracy for starting one is huge. BUt one teacher has navigated the waters and one is supposed to be opening next year. It's only K-2 for now. It'll be interesting to see how it goes. I may try to teach some science courses there if the school survives.

As for some perception of negativity on the board lately, it seems to me that the beginning of the school year last year brought on more fear and worry and trouble for many people on the forum. The new year can make for an uptick in the number of negative experiences until solutions have time to get sorted out.

Positive stories are always welcome, but I hope we can also encourage people with frustrations--whether personal or systemic--to share them. It's hard to solve problems we can't discuss.

Just my perspective...

I plead guilty to adding to the recent negativity, but for me, this is my only safe place to vent. And it is mostly just venting--I'm (mostly) sure that when I put my diplomacy hat on and seriously begin my conversations with DD's teacher and the school, I'll start to see positive movement. And I promise to post about it.

I just had to add that i am sorry that my posting came across as teacher bashing - I was a teacher in the public schools for almost 15 years before I left the profession. My last year of teaching K was one I will always remember - I had 28 kids in my classroom with no aide....2 asperger's children, 1 deaf child who had a sign language interp. and I had to wear a special microphone for him and 12 children with IEP's. I worked in a migrant farm area so many, many of the families did not speak English. I split myself into so many pieces trying to meet the needs of all my kids. I have seen so many different sides of things and one of the reasons why I left was because I was starting to see so many teachers (myself included) being told that we couldn't be creative in our teaching methods and that we needed to focus on improving test scores -the system is broken in my opinion and many things need to change.

DazedandConfused - many of your comments voice exactly what I am wanting to say. I am sorry that I am one of the negative voices on the board lately- this starting of the school year was really, really rough and probably one of the hardest things i have ever had to deal with to date with DS...you have no idea how much it helped just being able to "spill" all of my worries and frustration so that it wasn't put out on the table at home. For the future I will try to find a new venting spot because I would not want to drive someone away from the board because of all the negativity.

Oh my...heavens. That year must have been a nightmare. So sorry.

I agree with Kriston that airing frustrations is appropriate on this board. We all need to a place vent or to make valid criticisms. In fact, there have been times when this board has shown me that I'm not the only person facing a certain problem. I'm uncomfortable with like the idea of people feeling obliged to sound positive when things around them are dysfunctional.

Problems don't get solved unless they get aired. Let's face it: large-scale changes often start with a small group of troublemakers. As an example, the British crown presumably considered our founding fathers to be nothing but a bunch of negative troublemakers. Ditto for at least some captains of industry when people began to advocate for limits on child labor. And the voting rights movements. And the civil rights movement...and and and.

Just my 2c.

Val




Val

On the other hand, people should feel confortable sharing success stories. My dd is (and has always been) in an almost perfect school situation. I almost feel guilty that we have never had to struggle and that her needs are for the most part met by her school.

Personally, I hope that people will continue to share their stories--both positive and the negative. The reality is that there are both positive and negative environments and teachers.

Mostly I think that the sharing of stories helps us to gain perspective about our own situations. Sometimes I read what someone has written and I think, "OK, I'm not crazy. It really IS reasonable to expect 'x'." I need that anecdotal evidence (that it could better) in order to keep going back and advocating for my children.

Other times I read something and I think, "Wow. That situation ______ wrote about is appalling. I guess I should at least appreciate "x" in my own situation".

There are a lot of stories that have been shared here that truly ARE appalling. Those need to be part of the ongoing conversation about what works and what doesn't work. Yes, teachers are stretched (and I speak from first hand experience), but there is no excuse for ridiculous decisions like refusing to allow a child to read books at their reading level (excepting those with content too mature for an elementary classroom), or for making a child who has fully developed number sense sit and color in counting sheets.

We all need help sometimes. This may be a weird analogy, but I recall being hospitalized for an infection about 10-12 years ago. Although I am generally able to advocate for myself unabashedly, being hospitalized completely undermined my sense of self. People would come into my room without nametages and without introducing themselves, tell me something, leave, and then be followed an hour later by someone else without a nametag who would tell me something completely different. I remember getting out of the hospital and wanting to smack myself upside the head for being so meek while I was there. I allowed all of the experts to talk at me and I felt powerless to challenge or question what they said. Afterall, my wellbeing was in their hands, right? As a result, I spent the entire time feeling confused and a bit frightened. If I'm ever hospitalized again, I hope I am smart enough to have someone else with me who can ask the tough questions on my behalf.

It's easy to feel that way with our schools as well. We are entrusting our children to other adults. We don't want to offend the experts who will be responsible for our childrens' wellbeing, and, "on our own", we can easily be overwhelmed by the apparent confidence of the "experts". Coming to a place like this is a bit like having someone else in the room with you when you are a patient and feeling vulnerable. Other parents can help us confirm our instincts and may even offer advice; or they can gently question our reactions and help us to view things from another perspective. Either way, very valuable indeed.