Posted on 10/08/2021 8:52:32 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Can you spell “soft bigotry of low expectations”?
The never-ending battle over New York City’s advanced school programs continues. A top NYC school in June canceled plans to scrap accelerated math classes, following an outcry from enraged parents. Yet, after years of debate, city officials on Thursday announced they will eliminate an advanced program for four-year-olds before they enter kindergarten, claiming the program “further segregates students.”
City officials say the new program will allow all kindergarteners to have access to accelerated learning.
As reported by ABC7 in NYC, hapless Mayor Bill de Blasio claims the replacement program, named Brilliant NYC, will provide an “equitable model” designed to allow all children to “reach their full potential” — by doing away with a test given to four-year-olds to identify “gifted and talented” students, and instead will implement an accelerated instructional model in the Fall of 2022 that will serve all approximately 65,000 NYC kindergartners, according to the Department of Education. Uh-huh. “Brilliant” indeed, Big Bird.
Today, we announced a plan to deliver accelerated instruction for tens of thousands of children, as opposed to a select few. Brilliant NYC continues the work of equity and excellence by making sure every single student in our schools has the opportunity to succeed.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) October 8, 2021
“Brilliant NYC” will eliminate the highly selective high stakes test that critics claim unfairly favors white and American Asian children, as well as families with means. The test had typically admitted only about 2,500 kindergartners a year, with 15,000 applicants.
Wait — so eliminating the standard will help children of color how? Never mind — rhetorical question.
Confused? Me, too. Here’s more brilliance from the ever-“brilliant” mayor, as transcribed by ABC7:
“The era of judging 4-year-olds based on a single test is over. Brilliant NYC will deliver accelerated instruction for tens of thousands of children, as opposed to a select few.
“Every New York City child deserves to reach their full potential, and this new, equitable model gives them that chance.”
Got it, Big Bird. Eliminating the “gifted and talented” bar will help kids who are incapable of achieving the “racist” bar which in turn denies them the opportunity to achieve their “full potential.”
Totally makes sense. [rolling-eyes emoji]
In this week’s #AskTheMayor with @BrianLehrer, Mayor de Blasio says “Brilliant NYC,” the program replacing the city’s Gifted and Talented school program,” will give “every child with the ability for accelerated learning” a chance to partake. https://t.co/544cO6xN3W
— WNYC 🎙 (@WNYC) October 8, 2021
Equally-“brilliant” Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter announced the future of the program, rationalizing:
“As a life-long educator, I know every child in New York City has talents that go far beyond what a single test can capture and the Brilliant NYC plan will uncover their strengths so they can succeed.
“I’m excited to get into neighborhoods across the city to hear directly from communities about the types of learning opportunities that pique students’ interests and lets their gifts shine.”
Students identified as “brilliant” will be mixed with all other students in the classroom, and 4,000 teachers will be retrained to “teach” them together, according to ABC7. “We’re going to be ending something that I think was a mistake all along,” de Blasio said.
“We’re going to reach tens of thousands more kids with accelerated learning.”
Sure you are, Big Bird, sure you are.
The Left and today’s Democrat Party continue to hurt our students and destroy education.
A travesty our country will deeply regret for generations to come👇https://t.co/yRATDYKTSE
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) October 8, 2021
As noted by ABC7, Asian and white students make up about 25 percent of the overall student population of NYC, yet they account for 75 percent of students deemed “gifted and talented” in the city. Clearly “racist,” right? Nonsense. “Brilliant” people of all ages in every walk and stage of life comprise a disproportionately small percentage of the population. They always have, they always will.
Combining “brilliant” four-year-olds with non-“brilliant” four-year-old will not only not help the latter become “more brilliant,” it will hinder the growth of the former. But isn’t that part of the objective?
This nonsense is simply the latest example of the insanity metastasizing in America’s education systems.
As I reported in February, Boston Public Schools announced that a program with advanced learning classes for high-performing students was being canceled over concerns that the advanced classes serve “disproportionate racial groups.” The program was designed for high-performing students in grades four through six.
As my RedState colleague Alex Parker reported in January, the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax, Virginia, ended merit-based admissions. The board argued that high test performance was a “barrier” to black and Hispanic students.
And, as reported by The Heartland Institute on RedState in August, wingnut Oregon Gov. Kate Brown “brilliantly” abolished statewide math, reading, and writing proficiency standards for high school graduates. Can someone please explain to me how this ridiclous nonsense helps anyone? Of course, not.
Rationally or intellectually, that is.
Then again, what is rational about Leftism?
I always thought it was a stupid program. All kids are gifted and talented in the eyes of God.
Any Guesses?
Yes. Guessing that the KKK is chortling.
Literacy is rayciss.
New York voters getting what they deserve.
How is there a G&T for Kindergarten?
Do all kids have the same intelligence in the eyes of God?
That program gave poor but bright students the opportunity to get an education commensurate with their abilities.
Rich New Yorkers can and do send their kids to private schools. They don’t want any plebeians competing with their kids for prestigious college spots.
I guess it hurt the feelz of the Bell Curve leftsiders. Most of whom you know exactly who they are.
Blacks don’t study,don’t learn...I’m surprised that Hispanic parents are going along with having their kids called stupid.....
The race towards the bottom and a tremendous waste of talent. Why would an education system which is able to get less than 40% of students to 8th grade level in math & reading on graduation magically be able to accelerate all students?
The “educators who can’t educate” need to destroy the part of the system that works so that everyone is equally poorly educated. Liberals are clearly insane.
Some children can play a violin. Others can use it for a baseball bat. I see no reason for the two to be forced to comingle all of the time.
What does the equal value of every person have to do with intelligence, work ethic & ambition? Each person is unique, some have the ability to excel at science, math & creative thinking. Those people should be given the opportunity to use their talents just as others use their own different talents. To do that they need more advanced material and more challenges. We are not a socialistic factory yet with everyone the same.
Yes, and there was a story last spring about certain private schools in Manhattan going woke.
The reaction was immediate: parents promptly removed their children and forfeited a good chunk of pre-paid tuition money, which could have been a new Mercedes for the wife or girlfriend.
It's becoming more and more true with each passing decade that NYC is no place to be raising a family. Public schools are a crapshoot with expensive private schools not far behind.
Ten to one they have similar programs in China and Russia to identify the most talented students which they will not be eliminating.
Yes, all kids are beautiful; but, not all kids are "gifted". I don't really like using that word; but, it is the word they use.
There are some children who are just way ahead of their peers intellectually. I know this, because I had one. She could read single words at 2 and was reading her little story books on her own at 4. She was able to sit still and complete a task at 4. She understood instructions at an early age. She had a large vocabulary for a child so young. I had to fight the public schools to let her in "early" (her 5th birthday was in early Nov). They wouldn't take her, so I put her into a Montessori kindergarten and then straight into Catholic School.
I'll always remember the test that she took at the Catholic elementary school. I was waiting for her to be done and I saw the woman giving her the test running down the hall to the office where I was sitting. She said to me; "do you know that she is reading already?" I just laughed and told her yes, that is why I am trying to find a school that will take her.
She was always the youngest kid in her grade throughout school. And, she was always at the top for grades.
You really have to have a kid like this, to understand what they are like. They can be just as difficult to deal with as the lower end kids who act out. These kids act out when they are bored; and, in high school, they are usually smarter than the teacher. These types of kids need to be challenged intellectually, and, it starts at the very beginning, kindergarten.
Lastly, I would like to point out that these are the adults of the future who will be inventing new things to benefit the rest of us. They need to be nurtured. But, they also need to be challenged.
Uhuh... And Jesus loves you.
But everyone else thinks you're a jerk.
Nothing like that could ever happen in the USA could it?
(Like putty in my hands . . )
The false ideology of equity has sunk a noble high school program that rewards excellence. I knew the trophy for all practice would drift into a trophy for none and fall into the ditch. Excellence needs to be rewarded and, those who have a natural talent, given the opportunity to do their best for society. When will the Sleeping Giant awaken?
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