[shrinkermd]

I am conflicted about the tenor of this editorial. It would seem possible to help both gifted and less able students succeed to their ability; however, the editorial assumes otherwise.

It must be the nature of government projects to seek an "egalitarian" ideal where true ability is discouraged to make those of lesser ability feel good.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

It is a sad fact that our most gifted students, are not served by our public school system.

[RightWhale]

Many of the brightest give up on formal education altogether before graduating high school. Many do not complete a college degree.

Heard straight from the horse’s mouth:
I do not like bright students in my class. They are disruptive.
-—Ms Mediocre, high school teacher

[jwparkerjr]

You must remember that schools, public schools anyway, are run by liberals. The liberal mindset is that one way to reach equality is to bring down the acheivers as much as you bring up the underachievers. In their twisted mind it somehow helps the formerly F student to get up to a D only if the formerly A students can be brought down to C. I know it sounds crazy, and even a bit demented, but if you look at example after example of how liberals approach life’s problems that always a part of their solution. It’s like you have done a good thing if you can punish the A student, even if it does nothing to help the F student.

[bubbacluck]

Back when I was a kid they always separated the bright kids from the average kids. It was called the MGM program. Don’t think they do that these days. It’s called mainstreaming now. We homeschool.

[absolootezer0]

It would seem possible to help both gifted and less able students succeed to their ability; however, the editorial assumes otherwise.

there needs to be too many levels to deal with different requirements. remedial, low performing/ minimal, average, advanced, and honors.
the highest achieving classes right now are barely more than average. also, they would need to point this stuff out on diplomas.

[too much time]

But is it FAIR to let some students be smarter than others?

[USMCWife6869]

This is, sadly, true. I see it every day here.

[wastedyears]

I hated math as a student and I still do today. There is so much absolutely useless information being drilled into student's brains that I'm surprised there aren't any outright riots in the halls. Thankfully I can't remember the names of anything that took up space in my head, because they did exactly that. They taught little useful information when I was in high school. Education is something that has to be fixed the right way, and very soon.

[Lancey Howard]

Har! The Washington Post consistently supports and endorses socialism (ie., the Democrats) but then they turn around and wring their hands about its resulting mediocrity.

[gondramB]

In Georgia, gifted kids were left behind 40 years ago, 20 years and 10 years ago so its no surprise if NCLB has not fixed this.

My family isn’t rich but their neighborhood has houses $300-$400,000. And yet the middle school is failing, year after year. The Solution, all the kids now get free breakfast. Because, no doubt, their parents can’t afford breakfast - but still they have the same old teachers...

Down here, if you want good education and you aren’t qualified to teach half a dozen subjects you send your kids to private school.

[Albion Wilde]

This has been my experience working for large corporations: the creative, innovative and more efficient workers are the first to get the ax. They are regarded as loony, non-conformist and lazy. Their gifts of foreseeing the future and trying to get people to prepare for it are resented by those with second-tier intelligence, which are conformist rather than innovative. Conformists tend to hold the stable management positions of power below the top. Conformists last in organizations, innovators either go up to the top tier or are forced out, depending on whether they are also able to build power bases.

[Old Mountain man]

It is good that the best and brightest are getting the heck out of government schools. Government schools are a disaster.

[Lancey Howard]

These parents are fleeing public schools not only because, as documented by a recent University of Chicago study, the act pushes teachers to ignore high-ability students through its exclusive focus on bringing students to minimum proficiency. Worse than this benign neglect, No Child forces a fundamental educational approach so inappropriate for high-ability students that it destroys their interest in learning, as school becomes an endless chain of basic lessons aimed at low-performing students.

Interesting how the authors framed their point. A good student is "high-ability", but is a bad student "low-ability"? No. A bad student is "low-performing". Democrats and other socialists simply cannot admit publicly that some people are smart and other people are stupid; some people have ambition and work hard while other people are lazy bums.

Of course, it is natural that Democrats would be loathe to criticize their own "base"....

[The Game Hen]

Not just this editorial. With one week of school out of the way I’ve already thrown a tantrum in front of my daughter’s High School principal because they won’t offer AP Physics this year.
He said offering that AP class to 15 students would mean larger class sizes for easier science subjects.
Why can’t we figure out how to serve both types of students? We certainly have enough administrators at that school. Can’t they solve one simple problem between them?

[Kevmo]

Interesting discussion. We have been discussing inexpensive ways to fast track kids through high school to avoid the nonsense:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts?page=84#84

[tennteacher]

This has been happening for a very long time. The high schools have International Baccalaureate and A.P. classes, but by the time many kids get there, they have often not gained the skills to handle accelerated classes. Also, since schools can no longer track students, the “standard” classes tend to aim at the lowest common denominator.

And don’t forget that everybody must pass- whether they pass or not. NCLB didn’t cause the problems, only exacerbated them.

[jeddavis]

Any sort of a bright future for America has to start with the dismantling of public education.

[Gabz]

Ping

No child should mean just that: NO child...........

[Experiment 6-2-6]

This creativity is what makes math interesting and fun for those students.

I'm sorry. I really haven't run across that many students who find math interesting and fun...

At least in my High School... Challenging, perhaps..

[LongTimeMILurker]

Gifted children have rarely received proper education in schools according to their ability, even 30-40 years ago. Most, but not all, learned more in spite of the system, not because of it. There were always a few wise teachers in the past who looked out for the gifted students. I’m not sure those teachers exist now due to political correctness and the brainwashing necessary to obtain a teaching certificate, though.