Are we leaving gifted students behind?

Christian Science Monitor ^ | August 31, 2011 | Stacy Teicher Khadaroo,

[Niuhuru]

Ian McKeachie is a freckled 15-year-old who "drifted along" in elementary school. Not because he didn't love to learn or because it wasn't a good school, but because he mastered new concepts so quickly that the classroom work presented no challenge.

"My teachers would usually use me as a tutor for the other kids," he says, "so I was engaged in school, just not in a way that had me learning."

[GeronL]

We need schools that let kids move up at their own pace. Unfortunately that means we’ll be expanding student parking at elementary schools.

[Niuhuru]

The biggest problem with our system is that we are trying to save everyone from their own failings. We need to stop all this nonsense of rescuing the self destructive. We need the best possible environment for our kids and we need to help those who help themselves.

[GeronL]

That what I was saying in my own stupid way. :p

[TChad]

Does anyone have thoughts on Khan Academy as a solution?

[GeronL]

They need a new name for one. I always think of Aga Khan or Khaaaaaaan!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HiTech RedNeck]

A student this good could be bumped up a grade (or more, if he’s still blowing away the tests).

[TChad]

They need a new name for one.

I don't like the name either, but Salman Khan is an American from New Orleans.

[pops88]

“Does anyone have thoughts on Khan Academy as a solution?”

Looks good on first look. I wish I’d had this about 3 years ago. I used the National Repository of Online Courses for my daughter. http://www.montereyinstitute.org/nroc/nrocdemos.html

She was enrolled in 2 university classes at 13 while doing 2 NROC courses at home. She missed the high school “Very Highly Gifted” program by 2 points. She scored so high on the ACT that there was no point in sending her to high school. It was suggested that my son be given drugs for ADDH when he was 6. I told them to stuff it, he was just bored in school. He graduated college with honors last Spring. Public education is designed to churn out socialist, dem. bots, so yes, it is failing.

[21twelve]

Will look at later. My one daughter got into honors, and the other just missed it (8th grade). But summer assignments they both did the honors level stuff, and will try to keep that going - or go with something more.

Just found out that next year there will be no honor’s classes in junior high, something to do with all the kids should have an equal chance. My wife laughs when I call them a bunch of commies, until I explain more. Same goes for all of the “group projects” they do.

Luckily they are moving up to High School, and they can get into the Honors classes just by wanting to be in. (The one daughter missed it this year by three points on her essay).

[caveat emptor]

We need schools that let kids move up at their own pace. Unfortunately that means we’ll be expanding student parking at elementary schools.

That's right. And provide the capable students with martial arts training, handgun training, and a Coyote Special type pistol. I was one of the younger ones in my elementary school fourth grade class, and Billy Charles Kill 13/14 (yep, that was his name) terrorized me outside the classroom. Sixty-five years ago, BTW. I moved on, he stayed behind and I don't recall seeing him again. Kids that slow should be in a different kind of school, as should the "gifted".

That is unless the schools are big enough to have "streaming", three different levels of instruction within the same grade. It works, but is expensive and there would be howls of "discrimination" from the usual suspects.

[wintertime]

Charles Murray is right. We need qualifying exams starting in first grade. If a child takes a certified exam proving that he as mastered a particular subject then he would be **immediately** promoted to the next level in that specific subject.

Children should be permitted to take the GED at any age, or a similar qualifying exam. If they pass the local high school would be required to give them an official high school diploma. The student would then be eligible for all state a private scholarships and loans for college or post-secondary training.

Finally....ALL of the government school lectures from first to 12th grade should be filmed and put on the Internet for access by its citizens for FREE! ( We pay taxes don't we?) Then the student ( or any citizen) can move forward at his own pace or fill in and gaps where he may not have fully understood a topic. Qualifying exams would prove he has mastered the material.

Allowing students to graduate from high school and move on into their local community college, university, or post-secondary training would save the taxpayers literally BILLIONS! Fewer schools and teachers would be needed. Also the benefit to the students, allowing them to start their careers earlier could add up to a quarter of a million to a million dollars or more of earnings over a lifetime.

Personally...I think government schools exist for the benefit of teachers, bureaucrats, unions, and Democrat Communist Party. The longer they can keep kids dependent on them and in an infantilized state, the more work for them and the more money that flows into the union and Democrat Party pockets.

[pops88]

You really nailed it. I was floored when my daughter told me she wanted to take the obligatory college math class so she’d be prepared to take the GED, and this before she was old enough to take it. The first day of class, the teacher didn’t know what the “brackets” were called. She informed him they were “curly braces.” He loves her. LOL.

[LibertyRocks]

*Note: Didn’t read the whole article yet.. will read later though.*

I will say this though; this situation is nothing new. It happened to me throughout Grade School, Middle School AND High School. It made me very poorly prepared to face academic challenges when I was in college, and the material actually required me to give some effort to understand it.

This is one of the main reasons I homeschool my children. I believe it’s about the only way they can truly learn at their own pace.

[LibertyRocks]

Thanks much for posting the link to the Nat’l Repository! What an incredible resource!

[wolfman23601]

Ping for later

[Niuhuru]

It’s too bad that smart girl is stuck being a tutor to the other students when she could be nurturing herself. She shouldn’t be basically doing additional work that is the job of the teacher, not herself.

[Niuhuru]

You must be so PROUD!!!!

This is what should be done for kids who have large brains; for the life of me, I do not understand why we are trashing our most valuable resource, while other countries cultivate theirs. There is no reason that we can support some slut who had nine to ten kids out of wedlock, but not support a brainy kid who just needs the right mentoring to really blaze a trail.

[freedomfiter2]

Yes, but tweaking the school model won’t help.

[Hot Tabasco]

My nephew was extremely gifted, not genius, just smart and driven to excel accademically. Fortunately his parents had the financial ability to send him to an exclusive private school here in S.E. Michigan that had the resources to challenge him.

All his classes in junior and senior high were advanced college level courses. He's the only kid I know that had three years of Latin..........

He then went on to a small private college out in Mass. While his classes in high school made him eligible to enter college as a junior, he chose instead to do the full four years, have fun (in a good way) and excel on the school's hockey team..........

Following graduation, he took a year off, played semi-pro hockey in Europe while doing some extensive traveling with his teammates then came home and entered the University of Michigan Medical school.......

I'm not sure all that could have happened if he had gone to public school. Maybe, but I have to believe that having the private school on his resume definitely helped him get in to U of M Med.