Here's an even better one:

When I was 16, we moved to a school district that had a GATE program. They gave me the test and I passed.

My mother and I went to the next GATE meeting and it was packed with angry people. They were all parents of disabled kids and/or slow learners, and they were furious and DEMANDING that the school district do something for their kids.

It turned out that the school district was responding to the parents of the disabled kids by moving the GATE money to the disabled account and using it for individual attention for disabled kids.

We were pretty unhappy about it at the time. The school was wrong to do that.

But now I look back on it and I see that those parents were taking a great approach: they were advocating for their kids AS A GROUP. They were angry, and they had a right to be angry, because the schools were ignoring their kids.

We've become conditioned to accept that we aren't allowed to talk about our kids' abilities, so we keep quiet. Just because our kids have more innate ability does not mean that it is unfair to others to let them work to their potential. And we spend a fortune on private schools, tutors, or whatever. It's time to say, as a group, "hey, wait, this is wrong!"

Yet we don't make a fuss, as though being bright is some kind thing that has to be hidden, or as though being honest about a person's abilities equals bragging.

Well, it is possible to have humility and be honest about talent at the same time.

Do athletes hide their talents? Of course not! They develop them in full view of the world and with its full support. Everyone just accepts that some people can run faster, and no one in 4th grade feels emotionally damaged or whatever because some 9 year old can run the 100 in 10 seconds.

The system won't change until it is forced to change. It's that simple. Parents of bright kids have come out of the closet and advocate, TOGETHER, for their kids. We can use anger *constructively* just like all the other activists: "Why are you ignoring our children's needs?? We DEMAND that you do something for them!"

One parent advocating alone can be dismissed as a pest, yet we all continue to advocate alone. So we get frustrated. If we're all advocating alone anyway, why not just advocate together?

SILENCE = WASTED MINDS

Cheers,

Val