Next best thing to out-and-out geniuses. “Gifted” children
There is no topic that brings out the fire-breathing dragon in parents as gifted education. One of my most brilliant colleagues, Michael Skube, once wrote a column about gifted children that sparked an overwhelming outcry.
At the time, I was not writing about education but sat near Michael in the features newsroom and listened in amazement as he talked unhappy caller after caller down off the ledge. The fact that I can still recall a 1996 column speaks to his talents as a both a writer and a provocateur.
Michael was an intellectual in the world of journalism. As a young writer, he won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He was a noted book reviewer and now is also an academic. He is a professor at Elon.
I have had several conversations in the last few weeks about gifted education. Those talks led me to dig up Michael’s column, which I am sharing here. (He also wrote a followup piece about the parents of gifted children in his north Fulton neighborhood that almost provoked his public stoning: Among his observations: Parents pine for the TAG label. They are infatuated by giftedness for its own sake, much in the way of people who have always been on the outside looking in.)
But here is the column that I promised:
By 7:45 a.m. the line of vans and Volvos stretches almost to the street, and the little Galileos are reporting for duty. If they are not out-and-out geniuses, they are the next best thing. They are “gifted.” It is not enough that they be like the kids in Lake Wobegon, above average and for the most part happy. They must wear a tag. In fact, TAG is what it’s called. It is the acronym for the “talented and gifted programs in the public schools.
I would have thought the entire school was in TAG. Every child I was meeting seemed to be among the gifted, another prodigy brought forth from the fertile fields of north Fulton County. Elsewhere, season upon season might bring crop failure, but in the suburbs giftedness flowers. It does make you wonder.
Out of curiosity, I drew up two lists. In one column I wrote the names of my children’s friends who were in TAG. Within a minute I had written a dozen names. In the other column I wrote the names of those who were not. I came up with exactly two – children who, for what it’s worth, are winning in every way and bright to boot.
I hadn’t been aware that brilliance was in such abundance. Certainly its producers, the parents for whom TAG is a Holy Grail, keep it under wraps. Not that they are dolts, but they would not strike you as anything more than garden-variety intelligent either. They are ordinary people of ordinary achievement, with a sometimes desperate need to claim something extraordinary in their lives. And so the child in TAG carries the burden of the parents’ expectations.
If I seem skeptical about this business of gifted and talented children, it’s closer to the truth to say I’m ambivalent. All parents want the best courses and best teaching for their children. The public schools, by gearing the curriculum to the lowest common denominator, have made parents only more anxious to get their children into programs like TAG.
At the same time, a loony egalitarianism has tarred academic tracking as “elitist.” Charles Willie, a professor of education at Harvard, has declared that public education should not seek excellence but adequacy, and should value singing and dancing as much as “communication and calculation.”
That’s precisely the problem. Influenced by the Willie worms of the education bureaucracy, many schools are headed in the direction of know-nothingism. It’s hard to question parents who want their children to leave school knowing something more than the Macarena.
But if exceptional intelligence is an attribute like any another, then you should expect a corresponding number of morons. Alas, these don’t seem to be in evidence. Just the gifted. Talk to some people in public education and they will tell you all children are gifted. This is just silly. If everyone’s gifted, no one is. But set that aside. The larger point is the pernicious notion that the child as he is somehow is not enough.
Children, like adults, are talented in various ways. But the genuinely gifted will always be few, and not always luckier for having those gifts. Most are just children, a large number of whom have more than ample intelligence but not always intellectual curiosity. The one does not always imply the other, and, given a choice, a person is better to be blessed with curiosity than with extreme intelligence
But you don’t hear those parents talking about intellectual curiosity, perhaps because they don’t possess much of it themselves. They are enamored more of an impossibly vague concept they construe to mean extraordinary gifts. It is seldom admitted that those gifts are supposed to reflect well on parents.
What they in fact reflect is nothing more than the insecurity of the parent. I was a beneficiary of a rigidly stratified tracking system, though not in grade school, and I’m not sure a single person in our class was truly gifted. And no one called us that, although several of our wittier classmates had the reputation.
I remember a demanding geometry teacher who was less impressed with us than we were with ourselves. He had left a folder on his desk and someone pried into it enough to know it contained tantalizing information. Pressed by a group of sophomores to disclose who was top dog in the top class, he opened the folder and, as if to sober us up, said matter-of-factly, “There are a lot of good people in here, but nobody’s really up there. It’s what you do with what you got.”
A pall fell over the room – it’s in the nature of sophomores, perhaps, to think too well of themselves. Here was a heartless man telling us that genius was not in our midst, but that any of us could do what we set our minds to doing. We were, in other words, good enough, which turned to be more than enough.
–By Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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117 comments Add your comment
A reader
December 21st, 2010
4:04 pm
At my child’s elementary school, the participants of TAG were almost exclusively children of parents who were very active in the PTA. Which, for the most part, were SAHMs. If you were a working mother, then your child was not in TAG. My child was not in TAG.
The middle school is different. Suddenly my child is in advanced math and science. Why? Because she tested well in both subjects and deserves to be challenged. And all those PTA kids that were in elementary TAG? Mostly they are in the standard level classes. This makes me believe that TAG in elementary schools is a complete joke. It was for the popular parents, not the gifted children.
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
4:07 pm
and the beat goes on and on…
Atlanta Public Schools
A Pony Show=APS
http://www.TopPublicSchoolCorruptionAtlanta.com
The best “GIFTED SCHOOL” in Northside Atlanta Georgia…Warren T. Jackson Elementary …Don’t you think if there is CHEATING ON “Pay for Performance” Falsification of Records…FROM THE LEADER OF THE SCHOOL …There might be something going on with qualifying the “Gifted”, too.
Is this your idea of the perfect “gifted” leader?
Only Buckhead needs to know what to do next…
How do you spell INVESTIGATION? —COVER-UP
CALL SONNY…HE’LL GET HIS BUDDIES ANOTHER JOB…
MS
December 21st, 2010
4:09 pm
I attended school in Los Angeles under the LAUSD system and was identified as talented and gifted in the arts, music and sciences, I also had an IQ of 140. Had we of stayed in Los Angeles, it would’ve put me on a bee line to a magnet school and most likely a fast track to a california college. We moved to Oregon, which didn’t really know what to do with ‘gifted’ students. I took AP classes in high school and that’s really it.
As for what TAG and this IQ of mine has come in handy for, I find it easy to ace standardized tests, I don’t have any issues with resumes, paperwork or interviews, I do pretty well playing along with jeopardy but for the most part it’s just a title I earned as a child, as for my IQ, it’s still not high enough for MENSA. I was a gifted child who never REALLY applied herself. My sister who was NOT gifted got far better grades than I did because she worked hard.
I will agree with the statement,”…it’s what you do with what you got.”
Melissa
December 21st, 2010
4:09 pm
@ABC — You COULD afford private school if you weren’t so vain and had to live in that big expensive house to keep up with the Joneses. Right now I’m a single mom, a student, and working an internship. I have a very modest home and my daughter is in a private school. If we would prioritize what is really important instead of having to have the latest car and biggest house and loads of junk … and probably the climate controlled storage unit, we’d HAVE the money to send our kids to good schools. I’m so tired of people saying they can’t afford it. We can afford whatever it is that is important. Obviously, to people complaining about the education system, their children is NOT top priority.
Realist
December 21st, 2010
4:20 pm
Outstanding comments Melissa.
hornblowermg
December 21st, 2010
4:38 pm
i worked with Paul Torrance when he and his wife were developing the concept of “gifted” programs. there is and was always a question of efficacy in the criteria for identifying the “gifted” student. the question kept returning with the answer being “the better conforming and supported” student. the teachers being taught to identify and teach gifted students could hardly ever successfully identify the truly gifted. all of the instruments meant to identify gifted traits merely supported politically popular opinions. imagine that? don’t take this stuff too seriously. it is all meant to procure funding in one way or another.
Most Children Left Behind
December 21st, 2010
4:45 pm
No Child Left Behind has left gifted children behind. There is very little enrichment, and worse yet very little time is invested into helping these kids reach their potential – which could benefit our society immensely. My child has been classified as “gifted” since preschool, but she is also mildly ADHD. Upon enrolling in public school for high school, after 9 years of private school, I inquired as to the availability of any special services, such as extra time on tests, etc. if she should need that. I was told that “since your child is in honors classes and has an average higher than 70″, no help was available….
If a child has a 65 average, it’s important to get them above 70. What about 80? What about their potential? If a gifted child has an 80 average, shouldn’t an equal effort be made to help that child reach their potential, perhaps 90 or more? don’t we need EVERYONE working at their potential?
In the ultimate insult, I was then told that no services would be available because “we have to level the playing field.” So much for public education answering the call to this nation’s new “Sputnik moment.” (our dismal results relative to other countries in the recently released test scores). When we are content to keep everyone at a “75″ average, we’re doomed.
carter is a fool
December 21st, 2010
4:55 pm
Gifted education for the Profoundly Gifted student is a JOKE in public schools. This is why we homeschool. Our 5 year old can tell you all of the Presidents in order, knows multiplication and division. He reads consistently on a 6th grade level and has a functional reading level of 8th grade. Putting him in Kindergarten to learn his colors and to count to 10 would be a DISASTER. He would soon be labeled BD ( with a silent A).
According to our laws the public school needs to serve him at his level, but that would NEVER happen. Public school would never allow a student to skip a grade let alone several and of course not allow them to work at their level.
To fix education in general (which is in a sorry state of affairs here in the US and GA) we need:
To group according to ability
To have accountability on the Parent’s end
To reduce the Educrats
To reduce the legislature’s interference
To empower teachers to maintain discipline in their rooms
To require student accountability for his or her learning
To put money in the classroom for teachers instead of funding new layers of DOE workers to make new silly mandates and reports
Clark
December 21st, 2010
5:02 pm
@carter is a fool
Aside from having an a**hole dad, he sounds set for life!
Mattie
December 21st, 2010
5:03 pm
As a parent of two (out of 3) children that qualified for gifted educations in 3 different states, I feel TAG is a complete waste of funding. Save some money, and allow the gifted to move up as they master material. The best thing that happened to my children was dual enrollment programs through GA Tech while they were still in HS. THAT and that alone, prepared them for their college honors programs.
carter is a fool
December 21st, 2010
5:05 pm
Well Clark opinions are like a holes and you certainly resemble that. Nice of you to add NOTHING to the conversation.
Me
December 21st, 2010
5:06 pm
@Clark — LOL – best laugh all month!
Me
December 21st, 2010
5:07 pm
Nah – comedy is always appreciated in a conversation
carter is a fool
December 21st, 2010
5:08 pm
Insults from the uninformed is not Comedy.
carter is a fool
December 21st, 2010
5:11 pm
Mattie is correct that allowing those who master to work and then move up is where should be going with education and on the other end it would allow those who need more time and work to do the same. Everyone can learn, but not at the same pace or with the same effort. The variables are time and effort that go with ability in this equation.
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
5:25 pm
Beverly Hall heads the Gifted and Talented Program…TAG and Challenge…
I saw a picture of her holding the Award!
And Warren T. Jackson Elementary is a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence!
Whoopeeeeeeeeeeee!
http://www.TopPublicSchoolCorruptionAtlanta.com
Atlanta loves to drop their locked jaws, suck their teeth and drop a label. Phipps Plaza or Lenox Mall?
Is that Prada or Chanel? …Northside or Southside?…
Midtown or Downtown?
Dr. Craig Spinks /Augusta
December 21st, 2010
5:25 pm
Has the legislature commissioned any outsider evaluations* of TAG programs in GA? What do we spend? What do we get? Are there more and better student/citizen outcomes from alternative expenditures of TAG monies?
* Outsider evaluations would be conducted independently of the GDOE and the GOSA by credible education agencies from outside our state. By the way, SACS doesn’t qualify.
Fred
December 21st, 2010
5:27 pm
I was wondering about what the comments would be and how soon the race card would be thrown as I read this article. Lee hinted at it in post # 3 and Dr. Proud Black Man threw it in post #6. I have more to say, but I will wait until I have caught up.
I just think it’s sad that the racists have to direct any decisions and conversations………
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
5:32 pm
I know this game all too well…
It’s all about the money…
MONEY-MONEY-MONEY!!!
And don’t put your mess in storage for the Private School Label…
They will hand your child a syllabus…and if they can’t keep up…you’ll need to hire a tutor.
Unless you’ve got the money to build an new wing on the school…YOU CAN’T COMPETE IN THAT CIRCLE. Just send your child to a public school, give them some enrichment and help with the assignments. Love your child…and quit driving them like they are the family luxury car. FLASH produces TRASH.
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
5:36 pm
Sorry…Race and Money go hand and hand.
It’s a fact…look at the statistically numbers…
Talk about TEST SCORES…RANK MONEY AND RACE…
Quit ignoring the problem that is right on your face.
ADent
December 21st, 2010
5:38 pm
I would venture to say that I am more successful than 90% of the “gifted” kids who I went to school with. I’m glad I don’t send my kids to public school where you have to deal with this “gifted” #$%@.
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
5:39 pm
APS- 1960’s RACE RELATIONS with their own people in CHARGE.
IT is all about RACE…NORTH and SOUTH
Tom Teacher
December 21st, 2010
5:41 pm
At the Gwinnett schools my kids attended, TAG were identified by CoGat and ITBS. If they scored high enough, other tests were performed. No money changed hands. Not to say it doesn’t happen, but I never saw it happen. I know I never donated a nickel other than the $5 to join PTA. This was all before I was a teacher in the system.
Once a gifted teacher told my son’s class what she thought “gifted meant.” She said that the kids had been given a gift: they didn’t have to work as hard to understand the same information as other kids. That was it; nothing “special.” It was nice that she tried to help them realize they weren’t anything amazing. As a regular ed teacher, I get a few “gifted drop outs” every year. They aren’t willing to work hard enough to stay in the gifted classes and get moved to regular ones. I would rather have hard working kids w/ regular IQ’s than lazy gifted kids any day.
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
5:48 pm
Those on the Northside…Don’t want their GIFTED children mingling with those on the Southside…
Those in Group 1 at Sutton Middle School…don’t want to mix with those in Group 2 or Group 3.
Hispanics at Margaret Mitchell Elementary are bussed there so they will not fill up the Northside schools.
Gifted—Challenge—TAG—Hidden Segregation after the Civil Rights Movement in 1960…
Take your blinders off and quit looking through rose colored glasses…This has been ongoing…filtering out the undesirables…rezoning…Call it what it is…or make up another name…
“Family Suite” sounds pretty.
Concealing Segregation/APS/Jackson Elementary
http://www.youtube.com/user/TopSchoolAtlanta#p/u
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
5:49 pm
Excuse me the Hispanics are at APS-Garden Hills Elementary…
Dr. Proud Black Man
December 21st, 2010
5:49 pm
@ Fred
“Dr. Proud Black Man threw it in post #6.”
Post six:
““TAG” evokes many a laugh and anecdotal tale in the small district that I live in. Good concept but as its practiced here in Boondocks, GA its used to TRY to stop the White parents from fleeing the system. I say let em go.”
My you set such a “high bar” when a different paradigm of “race” is presented. You kind of remind me of the clergy of Birmingham who just didn’t “get it.”
http://tinyurl.com/47u7qm
Concerned
December 21st, 2010
5:52 pm
@Giant While I don’t put much stock into the bumper stickers how dare you criticize parents taking pride in their child’s accomplishments. It’s similar to a parent wearing an athletic shirt displaying their child’s team, or a key chain with a picture, etc. It is my belief that if more parents took an active interest in their child’s education the entire education system would improve. So, to you parents out there with the bumper stickers, display them proudly!!
BigBob
December 21st, 2010
5:58 pm
Enter your comments here
Cobb Teacher
December 21st, 2010
6:01 pm
@Carter: I’d be pretty concerned if I felt my child would be placed in BD if he left my home. I’m an advocate of homeschooling if the parent is able to put in the time and effort it requires. Academics are certainly important, but getting along in the world is even more so. Your brilliant child (and I realize there are some of these) will have to function in a classroom at some point. It’s never a good idea to let a child know they are so smart that being around others would be a waste of their time.
I work with many children whose parents have spent a great deal of time teaching their children academics, but have failed to teach them anything about sitting, listening, neatness, or pride in work. So when some parents tell me their child needs to be in Target, my response is often that they also need to learn to sit for five minutes. The two go hand in hand.
BigBob
December 21st, 2010
6:04 pm
Many of the parents want their kids in the public school gifted prgrams so they can feel less guilty about not lifting a finger for their education otherwise. They hide behind the “diversity” as an excuse for sending their kids to inferior schools, while secretly hoping the gifted program actually groups them with kids that “look like them”. If you are in the top X% of the worst public school system in the country, what does that make you? Many could afford private school, but they might have to live in a modest house and drive an older car instead of the McMansion and the leased Mercedes, and might even have to be involved with their kids instead of playing tennis or golf at the club.
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
6:08 pm
Dr. Proud Black Man…
Can you explain why the leaders of Atlanta Public Schools keep their own people enslaved in the neighborhood schools in projects like Bowen Homes and such. Is it because they get Federal Money for these low achieving schools and must keep the money rolling in so they can manipulate?
When asked to an APS Black administrator on video taped testimony.. Which school would prefer to send your child??…Jackson Elementary on the Northside of Atlanta next to the Governor’s Mansion or AD Williams Elementary off Bankhead Highway sitting next to the Atlanta City Dump.??
Her response was truth telling…She said they were both schools..both had books…and teachers.
There was no difference between the two schools. At the time she said this…she was retired from APS…Maybe she was retired and still working under the APS regime part time…But the expression on her face …I will never forget.
Why does the Black Leadership in powerful positions to make a difference discriminate against their own people?
I need to know…can you explain…I’m white and I just don’t get it… I don’t mean any disrespect. This is just what I’ve honestly observed…
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
6:11 pm
@ Dr. Proud Black Man…
I have not read that letter in a long time…
Honestly, Not much has really changed.
I’m sorry to say…I thought it was over …until I experienced the Northside of Atlanta…and realized all their secrets.
I can say this…the next generation needs to clean up this mess.
Lee
December 21st, 2010
6:12 pm
On the other end of the spectrum….
23% of recent high school graduates to took the Army’s entrance exam failed, according to the Education Trust group.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/apnewsbreak-nearly-1apnewsbreak-nearly-1-in-784298.html
More telling, 40% of the blacks, 30% of the hispanics, and 16% of the whites failed the exam.
It doesn’t matter if you are talking about the SAT, ACT, CRCT, EOC, graduation tests, or now, Army entrance exams, the results follow a specific order – Asian, Caucasian, non-white Hispanic, Black. The same order, btw, that was established by IQ research.
However, to mention this progression will get you branded as a racist by the politically correct apologists.
Schools know they need to stratify by ability level, but they cannot in today’s hyper-sensitive, politically correct environment.
Meanwhile, we have high school graduates who cannot answer the question:
2 + x = 4, what is the value of x?
Ooohhh, solve for “x”…. dat’s racist question….
ROFLMAO
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
6:15 pm
And. thank you for that link!
Hopefully …Dr.King’s message will someday fill the hollow minds of the ignorant.
fedup
December 21st, 2010
6:21 pm
ABC, don’t believe for a minute that “being smart” provides immunization against having a child born with special needs. I am willing to bet that your negative comment regarding funding for these students would change dramatically should one of your children be blessed with a child who will need those resources to give him/her a shot at a successful life.
HS Public Teacher
December 21st, 2010
6:43 pm
It is simply amazing how many of you obviously don’t even know what it means to be “gifted.” By that, I mean what tests must be taken and what scores must be made.
It is not a race thing. I have taught numbers of AMAZING gifted students of all colors.
No one just taps a student on the should and says, “your now gifted” wink, wink.
These are students proven to be in the top percentages of the population of the US. Some gifted students are not easily recognizable. I have known some that try to hide their abilities and ‘act cool’ to fit in. I have known some that prefer to be ‘average’ and try to be in the lower level classes to make easy grades. Gifted students come in all flavors.
But, in any case, it is the law that gifted students deserve special service opportunities. And, I feel that it is the best decision for the future of our Country – and may be the last resort!
I really wonder how many of you that are against the top percentages of students getting special services are the VERY SAME PEOPLE that are more than willing to allow the top percentages of income/wealthy people to get additional tax benefits??!!!??!!!
Reader
December 21st, 2010
6:50 pm
My son was in the gifted program from grade school all the way through high school. He was not a straight A student, not even close. His friend down the street did get straight A’s and was enrolled in many honors classes. However, when tested, he was not accepted into the gifted program. Gifted children are not necessarily at the top of the GPA ladder, nor are they necessarily over achievers. However, they are creative, intuitive and imaginative problem solvers.
TopSchool
December 21st, 2010
6:52 pm
Wink Wink…You got it…Atlanta Public Schools…Gifted Program on the Northside of Atlanta…
You think they just CHEATED ON THE CRCT TESTS on the Southside of Atlanta??
The problem with cheating in APS is systemic.
Top to Bottom…Make no Mistake…No Test Score in APS is valid under this leadership.
Those in the Gifted Program should be re-evaluated. Especially at Warren T. Jackson Elementary…
http://www.TopPublicSchoolCorruptionAtlanta.com
Reality Check
December 21st, 2010
7:19 pm
I have 2 sons, both in the gifted program. My older son is truly gifted intellectually, no common sense whatsoever–common sense is what I had to teach him–not an easy task. My younger son is not gifted, but is a hard-working, self-disciplined, grounded young man with common sense, and much easier to deal with!
Many have suggested grouping by achievement or abilty. A very wise principal told me that unless my son was going to grow up and go to work in a think tank, these are the people he will work with. Even if you grow up to be in charge, you are in charge of the general public and you have to learn to get along with everyone. I have known parents that pushed their children and they grauduated high school at 15. Sounds good, but in reality no matter how bright they are they are not mature enough to go to college and need to be with people their own age.
My sons are 29 and 26 now, both are independent, contributing members of society. They set the bar very high for themselves. I always told them that academics came easily for them and they should always help their classmates if asked. Both have been involved in peer-tutoring at the high school,college, and grad school levels and would never act superior to their classmates. Being in the gifted class at school was not included on any of the diplomas they have earned. (Just like how old they were when they learned to walk,talk or be potty-trained is not listed on the diplomas–it is more about parental competition!) The goal for all parents is to raise happy, well adjusted adults that we like as well as love. That takes years and not a job I would ever leave totally up to a school system!
AlreadySheared
December 21st, 2010
8:28 pm
“Gifted” – hilarious entry #16 in stuffwhitepeoplelike.com
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/22/17-gifted-children/
At my kids’ elementary school, I had a hard time reconciling the facts that
1) gifted kids were supposed to be in the top 4% of the population (96th percentile and above), and
2) some way, some how, in our neighborhood school ONE THIRD (33%) of the students were TAG.
fedup
December 21st, 2010
8:34 pm
Reality Check….your last two lines are so true and should be included in any parenting handbook! Great post!
Chrome Gouda
December 21st, 2010
8:50 pm
Carter is a Fool serves as a good example of another kind of problem… The parents who are convinced that their kindergartener reads at a middle school level, because some test that they administered themselves told them so.
Carter, you sound like an egotistical clown. I hope for your child’s sake that he is exposed to more adults and children than just you, because, if not, like many homeschooled children he will be socially inept, and being able to recite the presidents in order will only make him seem more weird.
Lee
December 21st, 2010
10:07 pm
@TopSchool, re “Hopefully …Dr.King’s message will someday fill the hollow minds of the ignorant.”
Ah yes, the “Hypocrite Preacher”, as described by President Johnson. Here’s one of King’s messages that the politically correct would rather forget….
“01/19/98 Newsweek, Page 62: January 6, 1964, was a long day for Martin Luther King Jr. … That night King retired to his room at the Willard Hotel. There FBI bugs reportedly picked up 14 hours of party chatter, the clinking of glasses and the sounds of illicit sex–including King’s cries of “I’m f–ing for God” and “I’m not a Negro tonight!”"
Ros Dalton
December 22nd, 2010
12:12 am
I came through the Gifted program at my N Ga schools, and I have a genius level IQ. It really didn’t mean much to me, I was never challenged in the slightest by school. I’d read my text books the first few weeks and coast through the rest of the year by bringing my own books to school to read during class. Teachers learned not to bother me, I knew the answers and I knew exactly how to disrupt their classrooms if they started taking my books away. Standardized tests were absurdly easy. I think IQ is primarily a measure of the subject’s ability to perform on tests or in other rigidly controlled intellectual situations, but let me just say that even as a ‘genius’ I’ve worked with carpenters who got better results from their habits of practical math than I could find, even calculating perfectly, in my head.
The part about the TAG program that troubles me is I don’t believe you can objectively measure a child’s motivation. Certainly not from year to year. Without that essential quality of motivation all the gifts in the world are useless. I haven’t allowed my daughter to test for TAG for the simple reason that I haven’t been able to help her find her motivation to excel, and without it TAG seems like a popularity club. She may never find it and yet still be a happy and complete person.
A Teacher of TAG, Sped, ESOL, and Everything In Between
December 22nd, 2010
8:35 am
I think we reach a point where we over value the label(s) of the children. My diverse third grade class is full of LABELS, but you know what I see? I see my beautiful children that work diligently and cooperatively to receive the grade they earn. I can make a C feel like a victory, and I can make an A feel like a slap in the face. I only expect my students to give me their very best at all times, and I want my students to expect nothing less of me. Just because some students are “TAG” does not mean that their A is their best work. The TAG teacher at our school believes in the same theory. A teacher must reach a point where the student means more than the label, and the parent must come to this same realization as well. There is a necessity of BALANCE, and I would NEVER want a classroom full of children based only on ability. The TAG, the Sped, the ESOL, and the “Typical” have so much to learn from each other. It’s a joy to watch them discover new things not only about each other, but about themselves as well.
And by the way:
I was tested 3 times to be in TAG. I never made it in, but I did get into 4 AP classes in highschool. My parents never stressed about the fact that I didn’t make it in to the TAG program. I knew they were proud of me because I was me…not because I got the official label as talented and gifted.
ABC
December 22nd, 2010
9:15 am
Melissa: you know NOTHING of my financial situation and have NO reason to spew about things you know nothing about. I live in a modest house, we drive cars (paid off) that are 8 and 12 years old. I cannot afford private school because I have TWO children and because I choose to work only part time in order to be home with them when they get home from school. So, shut your yap about things you know absolutely nothing about.
TopPublicSchool
December 22nd, 2010
10:29 am
@ Lee…and What did Jesus do behind closed doors?
Do we have some scripture recorded anywhere? And what does that have to do with the over-all idea of civil rights?
I don’t really care what words he said while he was in the moment of a sexual orgasm.
I care about the message…I am not that concerned about the human messenger.
Come on Son
December 22nd, 2010
12:50 pm
Late to the discussion but TAG programs really do not represent gifted students like in the past. They represent students who are hard working, can think for themselves, and parents who value education. The benefit is they are in classes with fellow students and not trapped in “blended” classes where special education students are now in classes with general education students but with two teachers. (which does not work, but that is another topic).
long time educator
December 22nd, 2010
4:04 pm
When I taught gifted students I had a banner around the top of my room that said, “To whom much is given, much is required.” This is how I was raised and the way I raised my three bright children. Giftedness is a responsibility; not a privilege. When I had students with parents like “Carter is a fool”, I worked to help the students develop the social skills they needed in order to be happy and keep a real job. Some “gifted” students have socially inept or overbearing, obnoxious parents who truly handicap their child’s chances to adapt to real life and be happy. While I expected my own children to maintain honor roll, my greater goal for them was that they be well-rounded, loving people who used their gifts for the greater good. Money could be saved by serving elementary school students on a consultation basis. The gifted teacher would collaborate with the classroom teacher to develop challenging projects or curriculum for the identified students. If the student or parent did not want the extra work, and many of them will not, fine. Social issues could just as well be handled by the school counselor. In high school, giftedness is sufficiently addressed with AP courses and a good guidance counselor.
It's all about the money
December 22nd, 2010
7:34 pm
The legislature relaxed the funding requirements: in the past, 90% of funding earned in a category had to be spent in a category. That is no longer the case, and we have seen a huge increase in “qualifications for gifted”. Sadly, gifted education has become the cash cow for districts to earn additional funds from the state. Parents fall into this trap. How many students were qualified by “portfolios” versus true test scores? If the districts truly cared about the top 8% of students who are truly gifted, then services would continue k-12. Instead, we offer just AP and honors classes, which are much more directed at high achieving students. Let us not forget that the qualifications to make the Newsweek top 100 schools has to do with the number of students taking AP classes who make a 3 or better on the AP tests, and you begin to see the game played by our school districts. Since gifted students have a higher college failure rate, and a more propensity towards social/emotional distress in adolescent and adulthood, one would wonder what happens to those students as they traverse the educational system? Is the system broken?