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Gifted Minds We Need to Nurture
Washington Post ^ | 10 February 2007 | Joann DiGennaro

Posted on 2/10/2007, 2:32:12 PM by shrinkermd

At an educators' meeting in Washington last fall, conversation turned to whether the federal government should support programming for this nation's most gifted and talented high school students. Educators overwhelmingly said that top students in secondary schools need no assistance, much to my dismay. Priority must be given to those not meeting the minimal standards in science and math, they reasoned.

The ugly secret is that our most talented students are falling through the cracks. Not one program of such major governmental agencies as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation or NASA specifically targets the top 5 percent of students who have demonstrated academic excellence and have the greatest potential for becoming our inventors, creators and groundbreaking scientists. An international assessment of math problem-solving skills of 15-year-olds in 2004, along with more recent studies, found that the United States had the fewest top performers and the largest percentage of low performers compared with other participating countries. By the time students reach 12th grade in math and science, they are near the bottom or dead last compared with international competition, according to the Education Department. These are the critical years for supporting students in science and math, for it is when they make career-determining decisions for college studies.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: china; chspe; economy; education; future; gifted; india; publikskoolz
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Egalitarianism rules in education. The idea is to level everyone and to ignore any individual differences except as a last resort. The author has the right idea with this:

"...At the strategic level, the United States must establish a policy for nurturing its most talented science and technology students and integrate this policy with a long-term vision of U.S. economic and military development. The White House and State Department science advisers should make this task a priority.

"...The next step should be a thorough assessment of all government educational programs geared to science and math. Shockingly, there are few assessments and little coordination among governmental agencies for the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on educational programs from kindergarten through the undergraduate level...

1 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:32:13 PM by shrinkermd
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To: shrinkermd
If they are so gifted, they should be able to figure out how to get a subsidized education or grant. Give me a break. If they can't figure out how to get to college and get a degree in engineering they aren't that gifted to begin with.
2 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:40:59 PM by Porterville (Through experience I have discovered that Yoda is a dumbass and Karma is a lie.)
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To: shrinkermd

If anything rewards and fosters mediocrity, it is government bureaucracy. let's not go ape over India and china which currently have GDP/cap of $2 and $3,000/cap. They are not exactly nipping at our heels.


3 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:41:03 PM by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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To: shrinkermd
Educators overwhelmingly said that top students in secondary schools need no assistance, much to my dismay.

The only assistance they need is called "school choice" or "vouchers", not another government program to help them be mediocre and fit in.

4 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:41:15 PM by Vigilanteman (Are there any men left in Washington? Or are there only cowards? Ahmad Shah Massoud)
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To: shrinkermd
The ugly secret is that our most talented students are falling through the cracks

It's true. The preponderance of funds for those "not making it" versus that available to those who are gifted is slanted towards the lowest common denominator: those who aren't making it.

5 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:44:46 PM by Alia
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To: shrinkermd
Reason #6,521,501 why your kids shouldn't be in a public school...

"Educators overwhelmingly said that top students in secondary schools need no assistance...Priority must be given to those not meeting the minimal standards in science and math."


6 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:45:49 PM by Old_Mil (http://www.gohunter08.com/)
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To: Porterville
If they are so gifted, they should be able to figure out how to get a subsidized education or grant. Give me a break. If they can't figure out how to get to college and get a degree in engineering they aren't that gifted to begin with.

Sounds to me as though this article isn't talking about college; it's talking about advanced teaching within the nation's K-12 system.

7 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:47:06 PM by NittanyLion
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To: Porterville
The issue is government funded "outreach".

There is little to no "outreach" for gifted students. Furthermore, there's a mentality afoot that the gifted need no assistance. A Lefty Church Mantra: You're so special, screw you. Being Gifted is its own reward. You are on your own and we hate you.

I've tutored young criminals. Some of these were highly intelligent. What outreach do they get? Be proud of being dull, then, we will reward you with funds and ACCESS. (Witness Al Gore and his crappy movie.)

The system is screwed up.

8 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:48:37 PM by Alia
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To: Vigilanteman

I think the author is talking about accelerated courses for the gifted before college. Most of us are not particularly intellectually gifted. I count myself is this group. The gifted are the folks that will invent, innovate etc. Sure someone like me can do it but it is less likely. However, for those children, they are not challenged and in addition to being bored, they never need to "struggle" to acheive, something needed for them to develop humbly. I am a devotee of Charles Murray on this. He wrote the Bell Curve and recently discussed education and intelligence in the WSJ. I cannot remember as much of the discussion as I would like but it may be worth a read for many of us.


9 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:50:22 PM by AZFolks
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To: shrinkermd

No.

The opportunity is there already for gifted young people IF they will take advantage of it. Advanced Placement courses prepare teens well for post-secondary education, as well as offer college credit after successful completion and testing.

The problem is not that schools (or some government program) fail to offer opportunity, it's that our values are so screwed up that many kids with potential don't take advantage of what's there.

Parents don't push, kids just want to have fun, childhood stretches into maturity, and a capable student doesn't realize what he missed until it's too late.

Another government program won't fix that. Attitude adjustment on the part of parents will.

I speak as the parent of three who did avail themselves -- with parental guidance -- of the toughest courses in high school and completed a year's worth of college before they graduated from HS. All three are now engineers.

And they had a good time doing it. Nothing beats competence for boosting self-esteem.


10 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:53:06 PM by Jedidah
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To: shrinkermd

I remember reading the Education catalogue at a major university.

I was very curious to see the three-part course on The Exceptional Child since I was curious how the great minds of tomorrow were to be assisted.

it turns out exceptional children are unruly, disruptive, blind, deaf and/or dumb.

The gifted was the last category in the last of three parts and it seemed clear that if there was any way to exclude them from the course entirely, they would be gone.

I thought that was a very interesting description of the priorities of our educational establishment and our public schools. I got the feeling that the teachers of courses like that actually don't like gifted kids.

Probably because students of education are taken from the bottom of the barrel.

As others have said, it is an awfully good argument for vouchers ...

D


11 posted on 2/10/2007, 2:55:32 PM by daviddennis (If you like my stuff, please visit amazing.com, my new social networking site!)
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To: AZFolks
If your ideological purpose is equality above all, then it makes sense to raise the bottom and lower the top of the curve. Since lowering the top takes no effort, then all the "programs" will be designed to raise the bottom. Socialists have no interest in freedom of the individual, then want a nice flat controllable population amenable to government control.
12 posted on 2/10/2007, 3:00:38 PM by Old North State
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To: shrinkermd
The report finds that children of color are more likely to drop out of school, to be suspended from school, and to be designated with certain disabilities than white students. Students of color, however, are less likely to be placed in an academically gifted program or to have a teacher of their own race than white students. http://ncjustice.org.temp.nuvox.net/grassroots/winter00/feature.html

I've reviewed statistics from the Dpt. of Ed. http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nrc/tuda_reading_mathematics_2005/t0006.asp?subtab_id=Tab_1&tab_id=tab1&printver=#chart and other sources, all of them show the disparity between white gifted students and black gifted students. Could it be that because there are vastly more while gifted students that to create a special class of them would highlight the racial distinction, and that would be politically incorrect?

13 posted on 2/10/2007, 3:04:46 PM by street_lawyer (Conservative Defender of the Faith)
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To: Alia
Don't care. I don't support the idea of "gifted" kids some how needing greater support. Most just need a good kick in the ass. A better program for all kids would be mandatory public service in the military or some other difficult program.

Or even better, make the gifted kids get jobs during high school at a bank, or building houses.
14 posted on 2/10/2007, 3:08:48 PM by Porterville (Through experience I have discovered that Yoda is a dumbass and Karma is a lie.)
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To: Alia

Most of the talented and gifted if recognized and pushed by the parents are enrolled in the TAG pogram and it is a joke. My husband and son were such students. My husband dropped out of high school in the 11th grade, because it was so boring. 2 years later he took the GED test to go to college and scored in the 95% in the nation.

My youngest was on the same path, smarter than some of his teachers and they knew it. Really good in math, getting bored in the 8th grade. I begged to get him into the next grade math, it took a half a year. Then when he got there, he got beat up by the seniors, who were just trying to graduate with as little math as possible.

In the tenth grade my son enrolled in the high school accelerated program at the local commummity colege, for dual credits, college and high school. He got an adult high school diploma in two terms, if he had stayed at the high school it would have been two years.

The bright students, many of them are just dropping out.


15 posted on 2/10/2007, 3:11:13 PM by thirst4truth
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To: shrinkermd
An accelerated program is called a job!! And the kid makes a buck.

Social Utopias suck. I'd rather have a gifted adult serving me ice-cream well, than be rich off some social program, fat and lazy. Which is the result of all government programs, including state, city and federal. Bunch of socialist slobs.
16 posted on 2/10/2007, 3:12:30 PM by Porterville (Through experience I have discovered that Yoda is a dumbass and Karma is a lie.)
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To: thirst4truth
The bright students, many of them are just dropping out.

Yes, this is true. And most of those dropping out are males.

P.S. Your children are wonderful!

17 posted on 2/10/2007, 3:13:24 PM by Alia
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To: Porterville

Some bright kids are born into families that are not wired in to the success circuit. The kid WILL NOT "figure out" how to get a high school education that includes calculus, physics, and foreign languages. Sure, he can go into the military and become an officer, and that's a worthy career. But his other options have been closed off. His chance to be a scientist or an engineer has been smothered in the crib.


18 posted on 2/10/2007, 3:13:55 PM by lostlakehiker (Not So Fast There)
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To: lostlakehiker

If they can't figure it out they aren't that gifted.

Get them jobs. That is the best program for all kids.


19 posted on 2/10/2007, 3:15:21 PM by Porterville (Through experience I have discovered that Yoda is a dumbass and Karma is a lie.)
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To: street_lawyer
Could it be that because there are vastly more while gifted students that to create a special class of them would highlight the racial distinction, and that would be politically incorrect?

A bigger factor could be that black gifted students are routinely put down by their black peers for "acting white". Kids are amazingly susceptible to peer pressure, especially when it's applied early in their schooling by older siblings and their friends.

20 posted on 2/10/2007, 3:15:22 PM by Bob
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