Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources "Dumbing Down America" - new book

The author/publisher are not literally asserting that there are tanks rolling down the streets. It's just a metaphor.

And yes there most definitely a war against ability tracking in the USA, even though it is essentially free.

If you have 240 students in a grade, and money for 6 teachers, so you'll have 6 classes of 40, it costs esssentially nothing to group by ability, and teach each class at the right level, which would lead to enormous improvements in educational outcomes. But this generally does not happen in America, essentially because war has been declared on the practice.

I'm intrigued.

Gifted forums are filled with parental descriptions of battles, and the need to fight for our children. We are witness to the problem, and it is not isolated, it is systemic.

To the gifted children being treated as an inconvenience by their teachers/schools/districts, the toll of years of fights, battles, and dumbing down, afraid to live as their authentic uber-intelligent selves may be experienced as attack. Constant and sustained attack. War. This article about tulips and poppies has been around for over a decade; the situation is prevalent.

As seen in the link provided by the OP, the back cover reads, in part: “… a critical look at the nation’s schools through the eyes of the children whose minds are languishing in countless classrooms. Filled with specific examples of how gifted children are being shortchanged by a nation that believes smart kids will succeed on their own.”

With decades of time and volumes of material dedicated to all aspects of giftedness, there is little excuse for providing these detrimental experiences rather than providing appropriately challenging academic instruction.

In reading the preview pages online, this may be a brave book long overdue.

The title has already been used (or near enough to be confusing).

Several books have similar titles. It's hard to avoid.