So, if they were just plucking kids based on the 130 IQ score I can see how it would be disastrous for some children.
Exactly!
Thanks for sharing Bostonian - I agree - the program sound terrific to me too. But I think that we gifties will always look back with regret at the parts that didn't work out. Since we can't live twice and see how any individual would have turned out if they hadn't been gotten special programing, we'll never know how thing would have been.
The important thing to notice here is -
1) The number of state students attending university probably did increase!
2) Leaving a kid with above grade level needs at grade level is also an 'intervention' with it's own consequences.
2) The tone of the article is so interesting, it assumes we'll all shake our heads in condemnation at the 'poor babies.' I'd love to read an article about the reverse situation with the same tone:
My life was changed forever when I was chosen to be a test subject in a project to teach small children to handle boredom.
In a bold initiative to make the world a better place by teaching early elementary school children to handle boredom, a select group of children with IQs over 130 are placed with their agemates in classrooms where they already know over 80% of the material to be covered for the year! Some succeded brilliently and taught themselves to 'zone out' into profound trances that prepared them for the boredom of adult life, while other dear little tots broke under the pressure and needed hospitalization. Even the ones who succeded have permanent character defects: "Well,says one, I do spend an awful lot of time posting on GIDF."
Another effect that caries into adulthood is a noted tendency towards perfectionism - making a big deal of minor defects, like inability to spell, and feeling terrible about it.
((Humor Alert!))
Grinity
