Now at Yale, she credits Governor’s Honors Program with expanding her mind and world. It’s about to go away.
A longstanding summer enrichment program for high achieving Georgia high school students loses funding next year year under a Senate vote. As you might imagine, the suspension of the popular Governor’s Honors Program is sparking many complaints, but none as elegant as this one from Yale student Annie Wang.
The Governor's Honors Program offers talented high school students a fully funded summer of enrichment education at a college campus. (This is an art student in the 2006 GHP class.) Funding is about to be halted.
By the way, if you wonder what work ethic it takes to get into Yale; Annie wrote this e-mail at 1 a.m. I read it this morning at 7:30 and sent her a note that I would like to use it. Within 30 minutes, I had a revised copy from her. There is a lot of posturing on this blog about the inherent failings of “government schools.” But there are many schools producing brilliant students. Annie is one example.
I graduated from Walton High School in Cobb County last year, and I’m currently a freshman at Yale University. I’ve been reading your “Get Schooled” blog for the past couple of years, and I wanted to bring an issue to your attention.
For the past 40 years, Georgia has funded a summer program called the Governor’s Honors Program that is designed “to provide gifted high school students a summer program of challenging and enriching educational opportunities not usually available during the regular school year.” Students are selected from schools across the state in a very competitive process in a variety of disciplines, from math to music, science to social studies, dance to design. I attended GHP in the summer of 2007 as a Social Studies major (Soc Stud, if you will) and math minor.
As a Soc Stud, I took classes every day in subjects like a study of the year 1968, the economy of Africa, early Christian heresy, childhood attachment and bonding, and so much more. While this might just sound like normal school with weirder classes, the remarkable thing about GHP was that it didn’t really have classes, and it wasn’t really a school. Rather, GHP was a starting point for the pursuit our own interests. It allowed us to veer from the curriculum or rather, design our own.
Every single major at GHP has some kind of final presentation of a project that they work on independently for an extended period of time. Science majors present research. Music majors put on concerts. Dance majors have a recital. Math majors play probability games. Agricultural majors milk a cow (and present their research).
As for us soc studs? We put on a history fair!
One day a week, we soc studs were given free rein in the library to pursue a research topic of our choice. One student researched the special relationship between the United States and Great Britain. Another researched the influence of Pokémon on pop culture in the 1990s. (As I said, free rein.) My group researched the religious basis of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
We interviewed local religious leaders, scoured online databases, and even hit the microfiche machines once or twice. By the end of the six weeks, we produced 3 tri-boards, a giant timeline, a brief video, and an architectural model of a mosque and a synagogue, mosque-o-gogue for short. (I’ve attached two pictures of our final report.)
The experience of producing the product was illuminating in and of itself. Believe it or not, GHP was the first time I had ever gathered primary sources for any kind of history paper. It was the first time I ever read an academic paper on history. It was the first time I had pursued even the rudiments of independent research.
So why did I do it? GHP doesn’t have tests. GHP doesn’t have grades. Instead, we have peer pressure—the good kind, that is. Six hundred students attend GHP every year, and these students are some of the talented and most passionate people I’ve ever met. GHPers challenge one another to be the best that they can be, and maybe even beyond what we our best is.
(Think my final project was elaborate? One student built a replica of a New York subway entrance, to scale.) My fellow GHPers, as well as the experience of GHP itself, taught me about research, initiative, and spontaneity in academia. It certainly pushed me farther intellectually than I had ever gone before.
But it was actually just one question, posed by an administrator no less, that pushed me over the edge.
We had been warned about the academic supervisor of GHP. He would wear a Salazar Slytherin T-shirt to show just how scary he really was. I remember the group had picked me to talk to him about our project, and my teacher had warned that he liked to quiz students. At first, the questions were easy. “How was the modern state of Israel founded?” “Describe the religious differences between Judaism and Islam.” I thought I had it in the bag; after all, these were more-or-less factual questions. They had an answer, and I could produce those answers. Or so I thought.
“Well, how would you solve it?”
“Solve what?”
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How would you solve it?”
I had no idea how to answer. I had no idea that I, a 16-year-old girl from Marietta who had never been the Middle East in her life, was even vaguely qualified to give an answer. I don’t remember my answer from that night, but I remember the question. I remember because that question marked the first time I had been challenged to do something. It was the first time that I thought of myself as someone who could do something, who really could have something to offer to the world. I’m sure, in the abstract, every high school student wants to change the world, but until I attended GHP, I never thought that I actually could.
But if I hadn’t attended GHP, if I hadn’t done the research, if I hadn’t met all these great kids, if I hadn’t been given the opportunity to pursue my wildest interests — I wouldn’t be able to change the world.
And that’s the thing with GHP — it pushes you beyond your own limits. It challenges you in every way, to rise up to the talent of those around you and beyond. If I hadn’t attended GHP, if I hadn’t performed independent research, if I hadn’t chased my wildest interests, if I hadn’t met all these great kids—I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be who I am today.
I wouldn’t be a student who recognizes all the problems of the world and wants to fix them. I wouldn’t be studying sociology with the intent to research and produce legislative policy one day. GHP is an educational experience that epitomizes the purpose of education: to prepare you for life. If it were up to me, every student would attend GHP, and our state would be so much the better for it. Imagine a generation of youth who are passionately devoted to finding a solution to social problems and, moreover, believe themselves capable of doing so. Just imagine how Georgia would benefit, how the country would benefit.
Unfortunately, the Georgia Senate lacks that imagination.
This week, they passed a proposed budget for 2011 that eliminates the Governor’s Honors Program and end its 40 year tradition of excellence. I vehemently oppose any legislation that will suspend funding for the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program. I stand with thousands of alumni when I say that canceling the program entirely will be devastating for the state, the Department of Education, and, most importantly, thousands of Georgia’s brightest and most talented high school students.
Now we’re left with a final question: How do you solve it? How do you save GHP?
Over 1,800 GHP alumni have signed an online petition. Please sign this petition and contact your local representative to protest cuts in funding for GHP. Do it for the sake of the kids. Do it for the sake of the future.
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138 comments Add your comment
Joe Huber
April 23rd, 2010
1:57 pm
In ‘84 I attended GHP as a Social Studies Major in Valdosta. Our project that year was a mock national political party convention. I was the representative of the great state of Oiho ( I was a bit dyslexic back then). We had platforms, speeches and “politicking” to do all those six weeks. It was a transformative experience that helped form me as a citizen and as a person.
I’m saddened to see the lack of vision by the State of Georgia. Hopefully, this loss of the program in 2011 will only be temporary. Perhaps it will be a catalyst to those thousands of folks like most of us on the comments thread to urge the program to adapt to the new normal and find a way to self fund and possibly even create an endowment for those who can’t afford to go. This event need not be the death knell but merely a call to a new beginning.
Jeff (Ex. MGT '85)
April 23rd, 2010
2:19 pm
Ole Guy: As the husband of an educator, I am with you all the way. Not everyone is cut out for college. We have wrongly made that the goal for every child, despite the need for talented technical students.
Old School: Sorry. I am reaching for his name, but the Executive Management instructor was male during my 6 weeks.
DH
April 23rd, 2010
4:01 pm
Asking that GHP not be eliminated is not asking for anything to be handed to us that, as American citizens, we don’t already deserve. A public education, last I checked, is our right. Now, a QUALITY education? That’s another story. All we’re asking is that kids actually be challenged, be provided with opportunities, and be taught to think critically, instead of just obeying teachers, regurgitating useless information, and working toward a standardized test. Students are human and have interests and real needs that should be met. Gifted students are absolutely special needs students. They need more, just as the commonly referred to special ed student does. Putting a student in honors classes absolutely does not fulfill those needs. If the entire public school system was run in a GHP-type manner, the whole problem would be resolved.
Helen Adeosun
April 23rd, 2010
5:39 pm
Annie’s comments are beautiful and reiterate my own feelings about GHP. I was fortunate to attend GHP in 2002 as a Commie (Communicative Arts) and Improv minor. As a child of immigrants, and as a black student I had come to a critical point in my educational life. Growing up in Marietta, there were so many questions I had, very few looked like me and were in these programs that seemed mostly for my mostly affluent peers. GHP was a much needed affirmation, a whisper in my ear, that I could do anything and succeed at it. I came back to Atlanta to teach, and was blessed to have the opportunity as a high school teacher and coach brilliant children through the application process.
Georgia, were it not for the grace of the educators who truly care and the parents who toil, could become a wasteland of public educational mediocrity. The elimination of GHP is just the first step. I encourage parents, educators, and students to advocate for GHP and, more importantly innovation and excellence within our public schools.
Ole Guy
April 23rd, 2010
5:41 pm
I read you loud and clear, Jeff. However, my proposal would be tantamount to a driver license. As we know, driving is a privilege, not a right. When one abuses that privilege, said privilege is withheld by the issuing authority.
By the same token, far too many abuse, in a variety of ways, the education system. As with driver license abuse, these actions place many in peril. There are too many who do not want, and quite frankly, through continued misdeeds, are not deserving of a tax-supported education. These people serve absolutely no purpose, short run or long, and, in my view, should be legally removed from the roles of publically funded education.
DOES ANYONE IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE HAVE THE GUTS TO EXAMINE THE FEASABILITY OF THIS PROPOSAL?
jill
April 23rd, 2010
8:00 pm
i’m not sure i understand where all the personal attacks are coming from here. i just wish that people who are outside the educational system would stop making assumptions about those of us who are. who we are, what we do, and what we believe. we aren’t cookie-cutter, anymore than you are. yes–there are bad teachers. yes–there are bad administrators. yes–there are bad parents. and yes–there ARE bad students. there is no one person at blame here. but what you don’t understand (not being part of our world) is that there are also people who work in education, not because they couldn’t do anything else, but because they DON’T WANT to do anything else. we spend our own money, give up our social lives and a lot of sleep (and yes, i work in the summers, and have a part time job on weekends too–i don’t have all kinds of money and free time that some people seem to think teachers have)..because we LOVE what we do. we LIVE to teach. we LIVE to open eyes and minds. and it is sad to me the number of closed minds who have written here. too bad i wasn’t your teacher…you might have learned something.
Maestrodude
April 23rd, 2010
10:02 pm
Well said jill. We need more teachers like you who not only are good at what they do but also who speak out with passion. Don’t be sad, this is nothing new. Continue to be who you are and others will join you. Thank you.
Kathy
April 23rd, 2010
11:38 pm
One Comment: Does it seem odd that a program for the top 2% for Georgia’s brightest is in place 40 years, but Georgia Still remains in the bottom five amongst the other states in the union…. Should we accept the status quo that the few should “rule” over the ignorant and less educated?
If you are thinking or exclaiming outloud, well Georgia has a higher number of SAT takers then other states, then I challenge you to google the Georgia School Couincil institute handbook and go to page 2.9 heading. Data Analysis and go down to the bottom paragraph..common issues. Long story short, Georgia schools are producing, “too many students are NOT prepared for college.” (not my words, but a state sanctioned agency’s findings)
I don’t think tax payer money should be used to finance the GHP because all public schools are suppposed to have gifted and/or honors programs in schools for these kids. Let’s also remember, kids who get into Ivy League colleges are the most likely to be part of the legacy his/her family has already established at such an institutuion.
PS; my children were particpants of the gifted/honors programs and I certainly don’t expect anyone but our family to ensure their success during or post secondary education process,
MathMajor09
April 24th, 2010
12:50 am
you’re right kathy schools are supposed to provide gifted programs for their students but not all schools can provide the same amount of education that others can. I come from a small school and when i attended GHP i was opened up to so many things that i never had the chance to experience at my school. Just because a school has a gifted or honors program that doesn’t mean that its going to challenge the students in them.
GeekGirl
April 24th, 2010
9:21 am
My older son went to GHP and loved it. He is now graduating from U Penn with a PhD in computer architecture and heading off to an excellent job.
At GHP, he got to meet kids from all over the state who shared his interests. I was so thrilled that he had such a wonderful experience and that Georgia provided him with this opportunity.
It is sad that our legislators don’t appreciate education, art, music, or just plain old literacy. Don’t they want businesses to be attracted to the state and bring in good jobs?
Ole Guy
April 24th, 2010
9:44 am
Jill, while there are those in blogland who simply exude nonesense in their writings, and probably talk to simply hear themselves talk, the vast majority of contributors (I hope my inputs are viewed as such) truly care about the plight of educators. Your’s is not a “closed profession”…whether we have kids in schools or not, whether we are a part of the education field or not, we all realize the great importance a sound educational system plays in our daily lives, and in our futures. Sometimes, as non-educators, we may seem somewhat hard-nosed, vicious, non-understanding, and perhaps even cruel. This, FOR THE MOST PART, is not the intent. Unfortunately, there are some who may have difficulty expressing sensitivity. I do not wish to set myself up as a spokesperson…as an “interested party”, albiet a non-educator, I see very little in the way of personal attacks.
Please understand, Jill, that the entire community of non-educators, in one way or another, relies on you, and your profession, to “keep the lights on” so that the future will not be darkened.
cz
April 24th, 2010
11:49 am
The benefits of this program have been incalculable for my son, class of 2008. He’s off to Yale this fall. He was accepted at the majority of the Ivies, many who are familiar with GHP & have great respect for it. My son’s admission counselor wrote a personal note to him, commenting specifically on the essay my son wrote that was based upon his fantastic GHP experience. It needs to continue for the sake of the kids and the status of GA!
Kathy
April 24th, 2010
12:03 pm
It seems that everytime there is debate/conversation about the education process, (key word…process) some want to “pass go” and dig their heels into a debate about educators. Let me clear on this, I am speaking about the education process.
Example: Once at a Georgia Gifted Student Assoc. quarterly district meeting primary stakeholders were asked to fill in the blank. “if I could I would______.” I raised my hand and contributed,
If I could I would mandate that the elementary children, especially the gifted who read beyond “grade level” be given science and social studies all year round. The audience was silent because too many parents did not get it….we have 180 days of school right? Now, because of the emphasis on reading and math, our district decided to only allow for 90 hours or science a year and 90 hours of social studies a year. Thus, in our county one can look at DOE report card and notice a trend. Our middle school and high school kids are more likely to fail social studies and science portions of the CRCT and the GHSGT.
Today, our district didn’t change anything, not even for the honors kids.
According to the Georgia School Board “Educaation Policy Primer” guide the GDOE allocates “additional” funding for gifted programs. So where is that extra $$$ going??? Perhaps if you know the person(s) involved in the gifted program you can determine if sufficient funds are going toward administrative costs. In our county gifted classes have a fraction of the students that “regular kids” which means more $$ for teachers and less on the student, AND we still do fund raisers for the gifted program!
To see where the gifted MONEY goes, simply go to the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts. (or call Russel W. Hinton, State Auditor at (404)656-2174 and ask for a CD or any question you might have) And, let’s not forget about recent legislation signed into law last year…HB 251 allowing intra district choice (loophole: LBOEs decide capacity of a school vs. a fire marshall) HB149 offering “dual enrollment” made easier for all kids, NOT just kids in an AP course. (BTW: AP classes have jumped within the last few years thanks to GDOE, not LBOEs) Dual enrollment also means the $$$$ going to the institution of higher education, which may lead LBOEs to OMIT such information to unsuspecting stakeholders.
Kathy
April 24th, 2010
1:04 pm
OK, so why not allow parents and/or people to “sponsor” kids who want to participate in the GHP and pay for the opportunity themselves? Also, as stated earlier….if you have a rising Junior or senior HB 149 allows your child to go to a college if that college accepts your child for enrollment. AND your kid gets a college credit for a similar experience at VSU as per the GHP.
AND….any junior and senior can have this wonderful post secondary experience and not just the “few” chosen by his/her school.
All I am saying, if the GHP is such a wonderful program (and I bet it is quite a life experience) then perhaps it’s time for parents and the children to step up to the plate and do it for themselves instead of waiting for all tax payers to pay the bill, that’s all.
I say continue the program, but let everyone pay their own way. The professor’s/teacher’s pay comes out of the Hope Scholarship….and if it was turned into a “college credit” then Hope could pay for the student’s too. Nothing more, nothing less.
Ole Guy
April 24th, 2010
2:14 pm
Kathy, you pose an interesting scenario. I do not know if the Georgia School Board Education Policy Primer is authored by anyone vaguely associated with the regulating authority of the DOE, however, if the Georgia Department of Education is directed (I say again…DIRECTED) to provide additional funding for gifted programs, I would be willing to venture that GDOE leadership, brought to the attention of the courts, would be in contempt of same.
Before you start contemplating taking the monkey off the back of GDOE leadership, you may wish to determine, through the courts, just exactly which one of two scenarios exist: 1) GDOE, due to fiscal constraints, CANNOT meet this stipulation, or 2) GDOE, due to internal fluff, WOULD RATHER NOT meet this requirement.
We’ve all read of extravagant “educational junkets” to far-off entertainment venues, the insistance of local school boards retaining personel of questionable value (graduation coaches, etc), and absurd raises for leadership personel whose only “accomplishments” are fiscal fiasco, gutted teacher corps, and persistently high drop-out/failure rates.
Once again, I ask the question…”Are there any leaders within the Ga Teacher Corps”?
Shannon, M.Div.
April 24th, 2010
9:12 pm
In my tenth grade year, I was accepted to GHP in 1990 as a Communicative Arts major–one of the formative events of my young life and certainly a powerful motivator for future academic success. The atmosphere of learning without grades–learning simply for the sake of learningcannot be overestimated.
menicko
April 24th, 2010
11:22 pm
As a former dekalb county social studies high school that has been an actual judge in the GHP I throughly disagree with Governor Perdue shutting the program down. You say you want Georgia high school students to be competitive but how when you are constantly closing down programs that might expose the best and brightest students, who may not have the chance to experience an opportunity like this anywhere else.
I don’t get it. I really care about these kids and they definitely need the Governors Honors Program. Please keep it.
Kathy
April 25th, 2010
12:34 am
Ole Guy, the book, Ed.Policy Primer is put out by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education in Cooperation with the Gerogia School Board Assoc. QBE Act of 1985 serves “as the state’s primary education funding mechanaism to k-12 schools. The formula includes 19 programs and allocates funding based on each of the 19 programs’s respective weights. … For example the chart in the handbook shows that in 2006 the QBE programs and program weights as reflected in 2007 dollars. Table 3 shows that the state allocated $4,221.88 for each “gifted” student.
Here’s a piece of Ga. Law OCGA 20-2-152: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/hottopics/gacode/default.asp
“Special education shall include children who are classified as intellectually gifted, mentally disabled, behavior disordered, specific learning disabled, orthopedically disabled, other health impaired, hearing impaired, speech-language disordered, visually impaired, severely emotionally disturbed, and deaf-blind and who have any other areas of special needs which may be identified. The State Board of Education shall adopt classification criteria for each area of special education to be served on a state-wide basis. The state board shall adopt the criteria used to determine eligibility of students for state funded special education programs. The state board shall adopt maximum class sizes by classification of special education pursuant to subsection (i) of Code Section 20-2-182 which are equal to or greater than the class sizes used to develop the program weights as set forth in subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-161.
(a.1) The criteria adopted by the state board to determine the eligibility of students for state funded special education programs for the intellectually gifted, Category VI pursuant to paragraph (6) of subsection (d) of this Code section, shall authorize local boards of education to use:”
Finally, I would like to put this out here…the ESEA of 1965 is only 45 yrs. old and I believe it was finally in 1970 when Georgia received a federal court order to integrate in 1970, 40 yrs. ago…and the GHP is 40 years old. Hmmm, is it a coincidence? Is there any data that disaggregates gender, race, ethnicity, and/or economic status of the GHP recipients over the past 40 years?
Again, since it is tax payer money going directly to enhance education opportunities for a few, how can we know the process is equitable? If any of you have such data or know of a link, can you share?
Kathy
April 25th, 2010
12:41 am
Here you go Ole Guy…OCGA 20-2-152 conti’d…the $$$$
“(d) For purposes of funding under this article, the following special education categories are authorized for the local units of administration of this state:
(6) Category VI: intellectually gifted.
Perhaps it is not the LBOE that needs to be charged with anything, but the public who allows LBOEs to exercise local flexibility without primary stakeholder input!
Kathy
April 25th, 2010
12:47 am
Hey Ole Guy:
Here’s more about Gifted funding as per the QBE:
O.C.G.A. § 20-2-161 (2009)
§ 20-2-161. Quality Basic Education Formula
(b) As the cost of instructional programs varies depending upon the teacher-student ratios and specific services typically required to address the special needs of students enrolled, state authorized instructional programs shall have the following program weights and teacher-student ratios:
(16) Program for intellectually gifted students:
Category VI…………………………………………………..1.6673
weight and
1 to 12
ratio
Rob
April 25th, 2010
10:09 am
There were a couple of pretty negative comments upthread about Ms. Wang’s reference to GHP being the first time she used primary source materials.
I suspect that not everyone is using this terminology the same way. The overwhelming majority of sources of information for most school and even college level reports written by students are secondary sources.
Books, monographs,and even academic journal articles are all secondary source documents.
Primary sources are original documents, first person accounts, raw quantitative data, etc.
When your middle school or high school student is working on a research project, they are almost certainly using mostly secondary source materials, perhaps with some primary source material incorporated. There is nothing wrong with that. Experts in their fields have spent their entire academic careers reviewing primary source materials to construct their understanding of a particular topic. A high school student working on a research paper should take advantage of the secondary sources written by these experts, perhaps with some primary sources incorporated to support the thesis of his or her paper.
Ms. Wang, in her very well-written letter, is describing the value of moving to an environment in which primary sources played a much larger role in her research. This is really a college-level skill. (Keep in mind that AP courses, which do incorporate writing about primary source documents, are supposed to be taught as college-level courses.)
Rob
April 25th, 2010
10:23 am
The state talks a good talk about wanting to bring more high-tech and bio-medical jobs to the state, but this will not happen without an educated workforce.
If Georgia really wants to compete in the 21st century economy, it is going to have to be willing to spend money on education, even if this means raising taxes. Cutting GHP is a very bad idea in and of itself, but, unfortunately, it is just one more symptom of a lack of real commitment to high quality public education by the leadership of the state.
Ole Guy
April 25th, 2010
11:17 am
Kathy, thank you for your detailed analysis. Unfortunately, our legislators are “fair weather pilots”…more than willing to talk the talk, by way of legislation which appeases the public, and garners votes. I believe Rob has pretty much identified the root problem as “a lack of real commitment to high quality public education by the leadership of the state”. At the same time, many of these (clearing of throat) “leaders”, realizing their days on the gravy train are limited, somehow manage to find the money to fund pet projects of dubious value.
Thank you again, Kathy, for the enlightenment.
Kathy
April 25th, 2010
12:04 pm
Say what you want about legislators…and the education process. However, I prefer to give credit (good and bad) where it is due….With the LBOE and constituents who blindly follow, remain indifferent, too trusting, fear of retaliation, or simply ignorant to a concept called the diffusion of responsibility.
The Georgia Constitution, Article VIII , Section V, Paragraph II. Boards of education.
“Each school system shall be under the management and control of a board of education, the members of which shall be elected as provided by law.”
http://www.gsba.com/policymanuals/legal_ref/georgia_constitution_art-8.htm
It is always eaier to balme the guy in charge for everything, but who is actually empowering these folks to have free reign with the $$$. Constituents who have checked out.
Let’s be clear about this, Georgia receives almost $1/2 BILLION in Title I funds. If we produced an a minimum level of an educated workforce then we would not receive as much Federal Government Education Bailout funding via Title I funds. Even if we did start edcating kids, how long would it take to establish businesses that paid into a tax base that could even rival the Title I funds? Title I at the state employs hundreds to ensure federal law NCLB boxes are checked off.
I look no further than the mirror to credit the education my child is getting…if I have to supplement the education process to ensure my children have choices in life, I do it. More parents just need to realize that the Ga. Constitution only holds taxpayers on the eduational hook for kids 6 yrs. -16. Prior to that and after, it’s on the parents, not society. Perhaps it’s human nature or the culture to stand idly by waiting for the ship because they were told the ship is the only way to go. Then if the ship doesn’t show up or late and the outcome is inferior, then the individual simply expresses…”it’s not my fault, but his/hers because they told me to do it.
I’m just saying that education is vital for anyone to take advantage of various opportunities in life and to leave a child’s fate in the hands of bureaucrats is NOT sufficient for some.
Duck Song
April 25th, 2010
1:24 pm
Georgia never fails to disappoint. GHP is not the only valuable program to go. Our political hacks — sorry, I mean “elected leaders” are a bunch of troglodytes. But we elected them, so we have only ourselves to blame for the sorry state of the state.
Ole Guy
April 25th, 2010
3:52 pm
Again, some very good points, Kathy. Ultimately, we have to assume command of our own destinys; the educated consumer…be it the consumer of goods and/or services (in the form of educational services for “budding” generations)…, unfortunately, is a dying breed. In forging our paths in life, we have come to rely, far too much, on what we are told, rather than what we have discerned.
Be that as it may, Kathy, I am not…and I am quite certain neither you nor the Georgia constituency…ready to take the monkey off the backs of those who we entrust to make fiscal decisions which are in the best interests of the majority. While the Go Fish nonsense, and the myriad special interest pork projects…all of which are of benefit to a very few…rob precious funding from much needed programs such as the vaunted GPH, legislators, who enjoy complete control of that funding, need answer to that very same constituency only every few years.
Agreed that we, the voting community, are to be held ultimately responsible for entrusting the same charlatans to do our bidding, only to believe their “I’m the good guy” rhetoric.
In years past, during the so-called “good times”, our attentions may have been dominated by issues of self-aggrandizement. Now that many of us, perhaps for the very first time, must contend with issues of a more basal nature, we will pay just a little more attention to those who portend to “hawk shiney trinkets” in the name of short-lived political agenda.
metro teacher
April 25th, 2010
4:36 pm
I am from Mississippi, and I attended the Mississippi Governor’s School when I was between my junior and senior year in 1995. That program changed my life, and it is only 3 weeks long there. I was from a tiny rural school with only one AP class, and I was the smartest kid there. When I went to MGS, I was shocked that there were other smart kids there that weren’t your stereotypical geeks. Haha, I thought I was the only one. I ended up being the only kid from my HS that went straight to a 4-year school, and the experiences that I had that summer prepared me and helped me to be confident about moving on to the “big time.”
I also went back and served as an RA for 3 summers, and an instructor for 2. So, I can understand the feelings everyone has for GHP. As a high school teacher now, I see students in my high school who are accepted or nominated for this program, and I see how it helps accelerate their growth as it did mine.
It’s not a question of primary sources or tri-boards, but its a matter of exposing yourself to a community of like-minded individuals who share your intellectual curiosity. Hopefully, some kind of agreement can be reached to keep the GHP going, and now I’ve got to search and find if my own MGS is safe from the cuts.
Kathy
April 25th, 2010
6:19 pm
OK, so getting back to “tax payer money” allocated for high school students to attend a six week program at VSU. If it continues, or modified then I would like to see some transparency as in disaggregating the group so we can hold the decision makers accountable and to assess the equity issue. Additionally, I would be interested in who chooses instructors for the courses and how are the courses decided on. Can the program be less expensive, or is it simply a sacred cow?
I would also like to see money allocated for field trips for all children in the education system, not just for a few high school kids. I am also curious as to reciprocity to Georgia communities.
Free Market Educator
April 26th, 2010
9:14 pm
Why isn’t this a Get Schooled topic?
Public school teacher seeking counseling degree gets the boot. University is sued for violation of Constitution.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=144881
Free Market Educator
April 26th, 2010
11:13 pm
The University of Georgia Charter is a perfect example of the importance of researching history through primary source documents. The history of UGA might be surprising to our Northern transplants. It was founded by none other than YALE grad and teacher, Abraham Baldwin. Why do you constantly waste your money on Northern “ivies” when you can have the next best thing, right in your own new backyard, for a fraction of the price? But, I digress. It seems that an early copy of the original document contained significant errors. These were later recopied, errors and all; no one bothered to check the “primary source”. The most significant deviation was the insertion of “her” in Section 11. Quite humorously, it was claimed that the founders had envisioned co-education and “women’s libbers” used the mistake to successfully argue for the legal admission of women to the University! UGA IS NOW CO-ED BECAUSE MANY “SCHOLARS” WERE TOO LAZY TO SEARCH FOR THE PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENT! The fact is that “her” was not in the original charter. OOPS!
If you want to see a photo copy of the charter and a corrected transcript, check this out.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=144881
Lori
April 27th, 2010
10:30 am
Cut programs for gifted, boost programs for low achievers. The marginal return of giving extra opportunities to gifted is far greater, from a social standpoint. We left Georgia to move to Northern Virginia, where families (with and without children) of all races are highly motivated to have educated, high performing school children. Georgia fails in education on so many fronts – but it starts with a very poor understanding of the value of a truly excellent public education that challenges all the students – low and high achieving.
Megan Schuitema
April 27th, 2010
7:03 pm
If this budget is really passed, I will be one of the last people to ever attend GHP. As a vocal music major, I’m loud about my opinions. I can’t believe a program with this kind of record and utter greatness is being destroyed. Losing GHP will be a terrible loss to the students in Georgia.
Kathy
April 27th, 2010
11:34 pm
Looks like the GHP will go for 4 weeks in 2-1- and no funding allocated for 2011. I am curious why the GHP can’t be turned nito a 501 c 3 and all the hopeful participants can raise money and write grants for recipiants. Also, how many of you realize that the Gerogia Gifted Student Association is actually a 501 c 3?
Perhpas its time for everyone to pay their way instead of waiting for a government handout. It is might behoove some to read and learn what corporate social responsibility is in order to look to other pockets of money other than the Georgia tax payer.
I am still curious what recipients give back/reciprocate to Ga. tax payers for their generousity.
Word is: Governor’s Honor Program funding restored, but program drops to four weeks | Get Schooled
April 29th, 2010
4:34 pm
[...] at least it will happen in 2011. The Senate had stripped the 2011 funding, setting off a firestorm of protest from ex GHP attendees who testified to the program’s life-changing [...]
Word is: Governor’s Honor Program funding restored, but program drops to four weeks » iThinkEducation.net!
April 29th, 2010
8:58 pm
[...] at least it will happen in 2011. The Senate had stripped the 2011 funding, setting off a firestorm of protest from ex GHP attendees who testified to the program’s life-changing powers. A Facebook page to [...]
Lyndi Quinones-O'Neal
June 22nd, 2010
10:53 pm
The Governor’s Honors Program allowed students from all walks of life and all ethnicities to come together to expand their minds on topics related to their academic interests. The misconception that cutting GHP will force parents to pay for their students’ extra endeavors in education is indicative of the lack of intelligence by some of the people responding to this article.
The reason GHP was such a big deal was that most of the students were being given an opportunity to showcase their talents in an academic setting, a paid expense that many of their families would NOT have been able to afford on their own. Believe it or not, some GHP students did not get to continue their education beyond high school due to responsibilities to their families—–choosing working to put food on the table for the WHOLE family as more essential than sending ONE family member to college. Even with the HOPE scholarship and Pell Grants, the $600 cost of books for the first semester is a cost too great for the students’ families. Oh, and the notion of being in college with limited funds for food and clothing make the poor college student visualization more intense.
Also, GHP gave students the chance to discover what they really wanted to do with their lives upon being able to choose any minor. The interaction with peers was invaluable and the connections made with like-minded individuals cannot be replaced with any funds. Still, the legislature should consider that the cut of this program, along with the Gifted and Honors programs in public schools, will make it so that the high-level students are not challenged, become bored, and act out instead of showing what they know on our fabulous standardized tests and taking Georgia out of our educational rut.
I am a member of GHP 2001 with a major in French and a minor in Voice.
Tyler K
August 23rd, 2010
3:04 pm
GHP 2004 Math Major, Comm Arts Minor.
GHP gave me the opportunity to stretch my mind in ways I never thought possible, and as a result, I learned of my passion for mathematical research. I’m now doing a PhD at Penn in mathematics, thanks to a National Science Foundation fellowship. Governmental fundings like this and then NSF are the way we are able to keep our best high school students in the US to be able to compete with other nations’ students, and we need to be on top of the education levels in quantitative sciences.
Ellie
September 3rd, 2010
4:04 pm
I’m a junior in Dekalb County right now. I’ve attended a university funded program similar to GHP for four years in a row, on scholarship, and I’m hoping to attend GHP this year. For those who say that the funding should be cut and families should find ways to pay for it themselves, I disagree. My family could not afford the tuition, nor room and board and meals. GHP is a blessing to those who are unable to find other opportunities to challenge themselves and find other students who choose to want the same educational chances. I feel you are closed minded to want to discontinue GHP because, honestly, it’s one of the only good programs that Georgia’s education system has been able to provide to students in this state. Georgia is already lagging in our education, and if GHP were to be cut, at ANY point, I know I will be even more ashamed than I already am to say I attend a Georgia public school.