Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums THINKING BIG About Gifted Education Proposal: NASA Academy of the Physical Sciences

The New York Times online edition messed up the dashes in the following, so I am providing a corrected version here:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebat...helpful?permid=41&offset=3#comment41

Steven A. Sylwester
Eugene, Oregon
July 22nd, 2010 12:46 am

The issue of National Education Standards is meaningless without an overriding philosophical basis. GWBush's "No Child Left Behind" program had a philosophical basis, but it was wrong-headed in that its focus was entirely on the bottom end. An appropriate philosophical basis for meaningful National Education Standards would be: "Every Child 21st-Century-Literate at No Less Than Grade Level While Being Actively Challenged and Fully Facilitated to Achieve Personal Potentials in All Core Academics."

The question of definitions then becomes important. Define these terms: 1) 21st-Century Literate, 2) No Less Than Grade Level, 3) Actively Challenged, 4) Fully Facilitated, 5) Achieve Personal Potentials, and 6) All Core Academics. Plainly, the consequence of creating a philosophical basis is that the National Education Standards then become more of an adult taxpayers' commitment to excellence than anything else � and that is how it should be.

The end result of what I propose would benefit everyone, including the academically gifted students whose needs have long been ignored.

For example, I have proposed a nationwide three-year public high school for young people who are exceptionally gifted and joyful in mathematics and the physical sciences. My proposed school is called "NASA Academy of the Physical Sciences" (NAPS), and it would be located on the campuses of 150 public research universities across the U.S. at its founding. Eventually, however, every public research university in the nation could have a NAPS site on its campus. NAPS is described in thorough detail at: http://nasa-academy-of-the-physical-sciences.blogspot.com/

I participate in a forum regarding NAPS at: http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....7811/Proposal_NASA_Academy_of_the_P.html

The point being this: National Education Standards that do not address the needs of all students � including the needs of those students who are academic geniuses � are worthless standards in my opinion. The American commitment is to provide free public education to its citizens for thirteen years from kindergarten through high school. What does that mean? My argument is that thirteen years of free education is the commitment, not access to a standard public school curriculum through the 12th grade level. A whole lot changes if my argument prevails. For starters, a school like NAPS happens � immediately! � and at government expense!

At the top end, the National Education Standards should be simply this: Students Must Be Advanced to the Academic Level at Which They Can Succeed While Being Challenged.

Steven A. Sylwester

Hello,

Please discuss only the topic of this thread here. Since this is a forum to discuss gifted education, those who wish to continue the discussion on religion, please do so over private messaging.

I just deleted a number of posts, and will continue to do so if posts to this thread veer of topic.

Thank you!

Valerie,

I am the son of an emeritus professor who has an international reputation regarding current brain research and its implications for education. He has authored many books and hundreds of journal articles, and he has lectured all over the world.

I am the brother of a Ph.D. research biologist who does live HIV/AIDS research.

You cannot possibly state an argument that I have not already heard many, many times. I am not persuaded � not in the least.

Recently, both my father and my brother have increasingly referred to those who do not share their particular science world view premise as people who are irrational. My brother adds freely that these "irrational" people are to be feared. My brother is an atheist by his own description. Most certainly, my brother's religion is science, but he steadfastly refuses to acknowledge that.

Valerie, if you want peace in the world, you start by not calling others irrational. Think it through. If you and I do not share the same fundamental world view premise, then neither of us can rightly call the other irrational. Rationality MUST be measured solely by the logical progression of thought that springs from a shared premise. If you call me irrational because you do not share my premise, then you are arrogantly claiming that your premise is the only acceptable premise. That sort of arrogance is what defines the worst kinds of religious fundamentalism. If your arrogance � your religious fundamentalism � is based on the Theory of Evolution, then your most basic fundamental belief is something that is unproven and unprovable � it is your leap of faith.

Understand this: I am NOT opposed to anyone's leap of faith. You are hereby welcome to make whatever leaps of faith you want to make, and please feel free to make those leaps with enthusiasm and gusto. BUT please do the first right thing and own up to it, meaning: admit openly and frankly to all others that you have made a leap of faith � even a giant leap of faith. And then do the second right thing, which is to allow all others to make their own leaps of faith, no matter what those leaps might be.

Valerie, you cannot escape religion, even in a science classroom, but you can put it in its rightful place and there fully give it its due honor and respect. What that means is simply this: you entitle everyone to their own curiosity without qualm or judgment. What "huge disservice to our children and the nation's future" is being done in allowing science students to ask their own honest questions? � even if they are Muslim in their thinking? � even if they are Jewish in their thinking? � even if they are Christian in their thinking? � even if they are atheistic in their thinking? ...

Science begins in response to the question asked; it does not begin with the premise.

Valerie, I can tell you from multiple firsthand experiences that homeopathy works. I can also tell you that I was the biggest skeptic in the world regarding homeopathy before my first firsthand experience observing it in action. That homeopathy works is one of the revelations of my lifetime, yet most Ph.D. biologists and most M.D. physicians dismiss homeopathy outright as quackery. I tell you frankly: the critics and the dismissers of homeopathy are simply wrong.

Many years ago, the physician who opened my eyes to homeopathy was sanctioned by the local medical board because he was practicing outside of accepted boundaries. He was willing to try things that worked even if he did not know why they worked. Homeopathy was discovered by Samuel Hahnemann more than 200 years ago ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Hahnemann ), but how and why it works is still unknown. Standard western medical thinking rejects mysterious treatments, so most Americans never benefit from homeopathy or acupuncture or herbal remedies � even if those treatments are reliably effective.

Valerie, the same physician who opened my eyes to homeopathy is the physician in the following true story:
http://steven-a-sylwester.blogspot.com/2009/10/connecting-dots-asthma-and-vitamin-d.html
http://community.nytimes.com/commen...d-to-stay-healthy/?permid=170#comment170
http://community.nytimes.com/commen...e-of-food-allergies/?permid=68#comment68

I am related to physicians. For almost ten years, even my own blood relatives who are physicians would not listen to me regarding Vitamin D and asthma. It is very, very frustrating to go up against the powers that be, because those powers are in lockstep against everyone but their own kind. I can tell you: the truth is out there to be found, but you might be brutalized if you dare grab hold of it.

Valerie, I was born without a left hand 56 years ago because a physician prescribed a drug to my mother. I do not stand in awe of smart people, be they scientists, physicians or academics, no matter how elite and renowned they might be. All of those "smart" people are just educated ordinary people who are fully capable of being duped and of doing stupid things. And they are party-line people through and through. The value of a Ph.D. degree or an M.D. degree can only be maintained if the club maintains its rules and keeps the riffraff out.

Valerie, I can only imagine that I threaten you in some way. Please do not feel threatened. What I propose will not hurt you or anyone else, but it will help many, many people.

Please ponder the lives of two people: geologist J Harlen Bretz, Ph.D. and physician Barry Marshall, M.D.:
http://www.detectingdesign.com/harlenbretz.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/megaflood/fantastic.html
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/mar1int-1
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2005/press.html
http://www.helico.com/h_history.html

Bretz and Marshall are two of my heroes. They were always correct in their thinking, but they endured horrible abuse from the scientific world for a long time before they were proven correct by the scientific establishment. Remember that. The enemy is not a question from a science student who happens to believe in God. The enemy is a science establishment that would forbid a student to ask his/her question simply because that student openly believes in God.

Steven A. Sylwester

Doggonit (sp?), I just noticed that I don't have the "Thinking BIG" forum in my RSS archives... drat. Deleted posts are my favorite thing to read.

Did I miss anything particularly interesting?

Sorry. I apologize for my uncharacteristically flippant response above. (And thanks to the handful of people who shared some of the more... interesting... tidbits!)

Not sure how I've missed this most intriguing thread over the last couple of months, but I did. In fact, I never touched it until I saw Mark D.'s admonishment, at which point I figured I must have missed a doozy.

And never one to speed by a trainwreck, I decided to take a gander. Not a long, thoughtful, scholarly assessment -- just a gander... a skim... a cursory glance. But, honestly, that's all that was really necessary.

-- -- --

Let me start by saying that I don't know any Bob Dylan songs... let alone have two favorites that could, by my naming them, define me. But I do have a special place in my heart for Barry Manilow, Ray Charles and Harry Connick Jr., if that helps any.

Furthermore, I'm only the product of a stenographer and electrical lineman, neither of whom have written anything more scholarly than a Christmas letter, but don't hold that against me, okay? (And don't even ask about my brother.)

-- -- --

Unfortunately, it's incredibly difficult to comment on Steven's proposal without dragging Politics kicking and screaming into the middle. One characteristic I've thoroughly enjoyed about this group is that despite a diverse collection of political views, I rarely see any overtly political sniping one way or the other. Just like watching my favorite apolitical figure, Brian Lamb of C-Span, it's nearly impossible to guess who voted for whom in the last election... AND I REALLY DON'T CARE! All I've cared about is the incredible support that comes together to discuss everything from FSIQ to the tying of shoes... and everything in between.

Bottom line for me is that for all the holy heck so many here have endured while advocating for their children, I don't recall anyone (beyond an isolated cry) begging for greater government involvement from the top down.

Seriously. Think it through.

The parents I've "met" through Davidson in general -- and this discussion forum in particular -- have shared countless examples where the greatest successes in advocacy came at the local level... not by petitioning some massive bureaucracy squirreled away in DC. Besides, guvmint has proven time & time again that it either a.) doesn't like GT-ed, or b.) doesn't understand GT-ed... or both. And you are seriously asking us to buy into a federal agency taking on the responsibility for this? Did you Think it through?

Who knew that, back in the 80's, when I sold hundreds & hundreds of copies of Math Blaster and Reading Blaster, the proceeds would end up funding an organization like the Davidson Institute, which has helped so many gifted children and their families over the years... including my own. At the same time, think of the trillions of tax dollars that the feds have scraped off the top of people like the Davidsons. How much has all that helped our little ones? Personally, I'd like to see the Davidsons get a massive retroactive tax refund so that they could (should they so choose) do even more for this woefully under-served population. Seems to me that they've done infinitely more with their relatively small budget than any government acronym-laden agency could even hope to do.

Are government schools a total & complete failure? I guess that depends on how you define "total & complete," doesn't it? Are there little pockets of success scattered about here and there? Oh, yeah -- and, thankfully, we've stumbled upon one here locally. And as we look down the road a bit, I'm actually excited about some of the charter school options I've seen in our state.

But to my untrained eye, the success of these charter schools doesn't appear to come from the fact that they are bundled into the budget of some massive agency. Quite the contrary -- in any of the schools I've had a chance to explore (or learn about through the experiences of fellow parents) -- these schools do so well precisely because they are in one way or another partially (or entirely) removed from the nasty bureaucracy that cripples all the neighboring schools.

Now this may go dancing in the sticky-thicket of icky politics, but if you want to see a real federal solution, then advocate for the feds getting the Hades out of our way, and letting us keep our educational funding in our own pockets to spend as we see fit. This way, if someone wants to patronize a private-sector solution like the Davidson Institute, fine. And, if another group of people want to pool their money for a federal solution, they can knock themselves out in the process.

All you gotta do is send a first-class letter, or travel coast-to-coast on a train in this country to see what I'm saying.

Seriously... think it through.

I agree completely.

Yeah, and the Board Rule states: "[they] reserve the right to delete any message for any reason whatsoever."

Ixnay on the eligionray.

Dandy,

So are you asking me to take my ball and bat and go home? or what?

NAPS is for a relatively few extraordinary people who have a narrow interest in mathematics and the physical sciences. I believe there should be established options for gifted children and their parents � that the ongoing struggle should not be necessary. Unfortunately, many gifted children do not have supportive parents, either because the parents do not understand the needs of a gifted child or because the parents lack the time, energy, and financial resources that are necessary to make a difference. An established option like NAPS would require very little from most parents, and that is is a very good thing in my opinion. A gifted child who wants to be in NAPS should not lose out on the opportunity because of his/her parents.

Steven A. Sylwester

C'mon, now... please read all my posts from start to finish from the beginning to the end. It is clear to me -- without the aid of Google Analytics -- that you did not.

And why, exactly, is this something that needs to be handled at the federal level?

I think you will find considerable agreement with that sentiment. I, for one, totally agree. I just think the "establishment of options" needs to be a little lot closer to home.

And how, exactly, is this something that can be efficiently remedied at the federal level?

Andy J. Dandifer

Andy,

You ask: And how, exactly, is this something that can be efficiently remedied at the federal level?

My question: Have you read my proposal?

Please read: http://nasa-academy-of-the-physical-sciences.blogspot.com/

Steven A. Sylwester