Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments How did you choose your child's school?

Yes, I agree. I have MAJOR problems with the education system, but badmouthing my local school isn't going to fix those problems. There's a difference there.

I do think that fit can be a problem. Sometimes the school that gets the bad rap in the rumor mill does a great job with HG+ kids. Sometimes the school that's supposed to have such high standards and is so well mentioned in the rumor mill is rigid and takes the "all our kids are GT" stance, so that an HG+ child is not remotely accomodated.

None of that changes the fact that the education system in general is not working as it should. But some schools manage to serve their students anyway. Others--even some private schools, even some GT schools!--don't serve kids well at all.

I, too, am not quiet about the education system needing a MAJOR overhaul. But that's not the closed-mindedness that I was referring to. I think that's a valid analysis based on the available data.

No, I meant what Dottie mentioned earlier: people who talk badly (and often!) about a particular school without really knowing anything about it.

Does that clarify, Val?

Yep. Thanks.

I want to write more but I have to finish writing a paper. Perhaps ce soir.

Val

Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to slight you there, acs!

They say the memory is the first thing to go...or is that the knees? I forget...

I'm not shy about saying that US public schools are failing our children --- by that, I mean ALL children, not just the 2% at the top of the IQ tests.(/quote]

I agree that there are issues in public schools, what I take issue with is the idea that private schools are the Mecca of education.

I realize that I should be a proponent for all childrden GT or not in US schools but my reality is that I am full and totally commited to my children. If my children can get what they need educationally and their scores reflect their ability then they are in a good place. It has very little to do with how the school is doing as a whole, but how the parent, child and school work together for the benefit of the child.
JMHO

Not to speak for her, but I don't think Val thinks private schools are a Mecca. I KNOW I don't!

I generally agree with your post, Mamabear. But I also think that the education system could be doing more for our kids. Small victories will tend to remain pretty small, pretty local, if we don't start thinking bigger.

Ever notice how we all seem to be fighting the same fights over and over all around the country? Well, wouldn't it be nice if systemic reforms solved some/many of those common problems in one fell swoop? Why do we all have to fight the same skirmishes? Maybe what we need is a big war to make a real change.

IMHO, I think we parents of GT kids tend to think too small. Obviously my kids are my first priority, as it must be. But I think we have to start thinking systemically instead of merely individually if we want to make any sort of lasting improvements in the education that GT kids in the U.S. receive.

As I told a couple of friends here in a PM, put a fancy bow on nothing and you've still got nothing. I think most of our schools offer--at best!--fancy bows. I think we tend to get very wrapped up in worrying about the bows and acquiring the bows and arranging the bows. But underneath? Nada.

I want more from our education system.

Where's the beef?!

(My new battle cry!)

Here is an interesting site to look at if you want to compare our education system to that of other coutries. I spent way to long looking at it tonight. The truth is we seem to be lousy at some things and really good at others. http://www.nationmaster.com/cat/edu-education&all=1
My favorite measure was: student attitudes>report class disorder. Check out Italy!


I have not traveled extensively in this world, but I have had a chance to see school systems in a few other countries. While there is plenty to be fixed here, there are many things I am grateful for. I have taken a lot for granted, like running water, schools that meet a basic building codes, and simple availability, that much of world does not have. I recently visited a school in a 3rd world country that has no running water, an outhouse, and 40 kids crammed into a small room. Half the kids in the village don't even get to attend because they cannot afford the required pencils and notebooks. Education ends in 6th grade.

I know someone is going to say, but we are a first-world country, of course we are doing better than that. And that person would be absolutely right. We can do better and we should do better. There is a lot to be done and we are the people who can help make those changes. Still, I guess I'm a glass half-full kind of person and I am really glad that my noise-sensitive child isn't going to school in Italy! LOL!

Well, my kid is going to school in my dining room because the system was unwilling to give him what he needed, and I keep hearing the same sorts of problems and conversations from other people here and IRL. I'm afraid I'm pretty "glass half-empty" on this one.

Could it be worse? Of course! But should it be better? That's the real question.

I think we're aiming too low. JMHO...

Oh acs, I totally get what you are saying. A girl I work with visits Haiti every year with her family and her father runs a charitable organization that helps the kids there. They provide one meal a day at school, consisting of rice and maybe beans(?) and this is usually the only meal these kids get ALL DAY LONG! I was reading an article about how they are eating "dirt cookies" because they have no food. I also read how in Cambodia the supplier of rice to the schools (also the kids only meal in many cases) has decided to start selling the rice elsewhere as they can get more money for it. It just makes me so sad and just feel so blessed that we live in a country where I don't have to worry about where my children's next meal is coming from. Yes, we still have problems, don't get me wrong, but we have it so much better than others have it many other places in the world. I think things like this can really help put our challenges into perspective.

Count me in the "glass half full" camp too!!!!!

Are we fortunate to live in the U.S.? Of course! But "glass half-full" thinking doesn't get changes made to a system that has PLENTY of room for improvement, especially in terms of GT education. If I lived in Haiti, I'd be trying to fix the Haitian system. But I live here, and I'm concerned with trying to improve *our* not-perfect system!

I absolutely encourage those with concerns about such foreign educational tragedies (because that's what those are!) to get involved and fix them. I'll cheer you on. But this is completely irrelevant to the issue of OUR kids in OUR schools!

Sorry, but we're hitting on one of my soapbox issues. I'm trying not to soapbox, but I REALLY think low expectations are bad for GT kids! I think we need to demand more from our schools.

I keep thinking about the actions taken by the parents of kids of developmentally disabled kids in the 70s and 80s, and I thnk "Why don't WE do that!?! Why don't we get organized and push for required service in schools?"

The only answer I see is because we all feel somehow ungrateful or as if we don't have the right to want more for our kids. But if we keep focusing on what we have (and what others elsewhere don't have), we miss out on what we *could* have for our kids. This is NOT a helpful or useful approach, IMHO.

Do we disagree that the U.S.'s education system in general should/could be doing more for GT kids? Am I off base here?

No I don't think you're off base in saying that the education system could be doing more. I agree. I was merely agreeing with acs that thinking about others less fortunate could put things more into perspective. I know it does for me.