Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy What really motivates parent activists

I guess that was my point: with disabled kids, the schools have NO CHOICE. The law says the schools must give them individual attention, regardless of what you could call Level of Disability. This is why you hear about kids who have their own aides in class or kids whose private school fees are covered by the public school budget. The law recognizes that kids describable as profoundly disabled (PD?) have a right to individualized intervention.

The learning requirements of PD kids and HG/PG kids are mirror images: each group requires individualized education plans. At this time, schools can't tell the parents of a PD child that "we have a plan that works for all these other kids, and your child will have to do the best he can with it." They'd be breaking the law!

While it is true that some schools do a lot better than others with IEPs, the fact is that kids with disabilities have the law on their side. Bright kids are at the mercy of the system.


Another poster said that it was up to other parents to do the advocating on behalf of their kids, but my point is that the change will only happen when a large chunk of the parents (and advocacy groups) of ALL talented kids stand together, which was exactly what happened to help disabled kids.

Short of another Sputnik scare, which might only help gifted kids for a limited time, I'm not convinced that anything will change substantially until a lot of people stand together.

I know it's not easy to implement! But a solution needs to be defined before it can be implemented.

Val

Sing it, sister! You know I agree completely!

It's not so much about being "concerned" about the kid at +1 SD. It's about creating a louder voice. If solely the +3 SD parents speak up, then we have very little leverage. There simply aren't enough of us. But if *all* the parents of +1 SDs and beyond speak in one voice, we sound louder and it gets easier to make some actual progress. Strength in numbers being what it is...

As Val and I have said before, we admire the *organization* of the parents with kids at the other end of the curve. Is life perfect for them? Oh, no! But they did a GREAT job of organizing back in the 70s and 80s, and they made great strides. Things are a LOT better for special needs kids than they were before those efforts were made. I think we all agree with that, don't we?

Personally, I think about how much better things could be for our GT kids if we actually made the same sort of effort. Still not perfect, of course, but better.

The thought occurs to me also that since you're in PA, Dottie, you do sort of have the (state) law on your side already. Those of us for whom no law regarding GT services exists might feel a bit more drive to organize...

I totally hear you. I'm not much of a joiner, frankly. And I freely admit that advocacy isn't my strong suit.

But as I see it, this is the problem in the scenario you described:


Now imagine if you had had 5-10% of the school's parents standing beside you... The other side looks not so big by comparison all of a sudden!

Why do we expect this nation or any other nation to support GT kids, when they will be economically exploited and then used as whipping boys when the politicans' stupidity catches up with them? The same people who will cut the kids down for being brilliant when kids, will attack them for doing something valuable and hence becoming successful when they grow up under the guise of "fairness." People are content to have a landscaper with an IQ of 200, but scream bloody murder when his daughter makes 2 million a year.

This country has a much deeper problem that prevents it from addressing the needs of the gifted and which prevents all indviduals from being successful. The nation needs to reevaluate what it means to be tolerant and supportive of individual choices and differences - beyond just the superficially obvious differences. This deepset prejudice against success diminishes us all.

I think the best strategy is to form regional centers for educating GT kids by coming up with a systems approach and within the GT movement and then infiltrate specific local institutions to implement that system. ( GT Guerillas!)

School districts with good programs should be patronized by parents moving into those districts. This builds local political mass to improve and strengthen those K-12 programs. (Do not even waste time with ignorant schools. Just move. )

Parents should then approach a local university to provide cohort programs and early admissions for kids to allow the K-12 program to pipeline into the University.

Professors should be recruited to mentor the kids who can then enter research and accelerated graduate programs specifically tailored to their needs. Programs in math, computers, robotics, and genetics would attract these kids.

The kids need to stay local to continue to build political support as they will become the outliers that continue to power growth.

This then builds the institutional basis to specifically cater to the GT population.

A handful of parents could make this happen by picking a suburban school district, getting the right programs in place, then spread the word nationally via other institutions ( ie Pediatricans ). It would then build critical mass.

Right now, most GT parents are spinning their wheels, fighting the same battles all the time all over the place by themselves, never being able to solve the next set of problems. No one gets anywhere this way.

If the daughter earned the money and people paid her for her work, why would anyone complain it's not "fair"? I'm not really following you here. I've never heard of such a thing happening.

I would guess this reference pertains to our nation�s CEOs.

Oh. Well, if they're taking taxpayer money because they're in financial trouble, then while I wouldn't call a $2 million salary not "fair," I would call it not *reasonable*...

Broke companies cut back on expenses!