Gifted...?

Question

I'm not giving my age, but I'm young enough to still be in school. I've been identified as gifted practically from the moment I set foot in day care, already able to read at age 3. Being "gifted" has been hard in some ways socially, especially when I skipped a grade in elementary school.


I've heard ridiculous things such as the gov spending $0.03 on accelerated education for every $100 they spend on Special Ed. I realize that Special Ed kids need help too - some of my friends are in Special Ed - but my district has NOTHING for the gifted children. Next year my parents are sending me to private school, but I'd like to know: is the public school system being fair?


I'm really bored sometimes. Everything - sports, language, math/sciences, arts - they all come easily to me. I'm very, very grateful for this, but don't I deserve a chance to hone my talents, too?

I live in a rich suburbian town where the school board is reluctant to create "gifted" programs, because all the parents think their precious children are gifted. And these parents provide valuable funding and have considerable power.

Answer 1

I am on the other side of the fence than where you are, or I should say my niece is who is autistic. I recently started research of what her parents can and can not do as far as assistance and help to mature the child's learning skills.
I am glad you feel lucky that you have "a gift", but I can also see your frustration.
Is the public school system being fair? Flat out NO! In your case to meet your needs they jump you up grades. Autistic children they push into the public school system with little to no help being nothing more than a day care. Seems the only way for "the gifted" or "slow children" to get proper attention and assistance is for the family to have money.
In your defense, I agree with you. You not only need to have a way to expand your learning abilities, but also time to be a kid and have fun. With that said, you might think of devoting time towards the things you love doing and follow your heart.
Best wishes and good luck!

Answer 2

I don't know where you are from but it is quite common for gifted education to be left out of the public schools in USA. I feel that it is because we want equality for our children we want our kids to have the same rights and privileges as the neighbor kids but parents hate to think that the neighbor's kids might be smarter than theirs. There also is little emphasis nationally on academics but boy oh boy do we emphasize sports! It levels the playing ground. parents can get out and throw a ball but they can't sit down and study with their kid every night. My school district is cutting back on gifted ed. I think there is the feel that if you are smart you will do well anywhere so why do anything special. They raised the point system used to determine giftedness by 4 points so less kids qualify and they only pull out 40 minutes a week. The rest of the time you can sit and be bored. Then the only gifted classes are Language Arts. Too bad if you are math and science gifted.
The best advice I can give is thank your parents for sending you to a more challenging private school and develop your leadership skills in whatever area you are interested in and become an active leader in your community. We need aware and gifted young people like you!

Answer 3

I agree with you somewhat because I also was placed in advanced placement courses throughout school, but the issue here is that there is legal issues involved when it comes down to educating special ed. students vs. gifted students.

Public schools are required by law to offer everyone an equal education.(joke) Because of this the special education children must be taken care of at the cognitive level that they can preform. By law many of these children also need special assistants in the classroom in order to finish any resemblance of classwork.
I understand your frustration and I do feel for you because when I was in school I was also very bored.

You must also realize that the education system in America is not concerned with creating individual educated people, but they are more concerned with educating masses of people. If you tested high on your standardized test and the rest of the school did poorly a lot of state and Federal monies could be taken from your school. While at the same time if the entire school scored comparable to the national average (including you) the school would be viewed as a great (ribbon) school.

Your parents are doing whats right by putting you into a private school next year they might nurture your individual talents.


Good Luck

Answer 4

If you live in the US, schools are required by federal law PL 94-142 to provide a "free and appropriate public education" to all students, even gifted ones. Funding is through special ed, as gifted kids have IEPs (individualized education plans).
My son was able to attend the gifted magnet program. Your parents can contact your school principal and request an evaluation for you to qualify for such a program. If your district doesn't have a program, they must pay for your education at a school which is comparable.
You can also contact the state department of education in your state to find a program.

Answer 5

Under federal law, every school district in the United States has the obligation to provide an "appropriate" education to every child. You are fortunate that your parents are able, financially, to send you to a private school next year. Is the public school system fair, heck no, but you know that already. Yes, you deserve the opportunity to hone your talents...but you need to take on some extra effort here. Most teachers would love to have students show a desire to learn, to excel and would be glad to help you achieve more than other students. Have you talked to them? The internet provides vast resources as well. Gifted students can't and shouldn't expect to have everything spoon-fed to them.

Check with any local colleges to see if any offer dual enrollment programs. Many do. This way you could earn college credits while you're still in high school. The same course could count as both high school and college credit!

Your parents could challenge your school system to great more opportunities for gifted students through their voting power. Local businesses could also encourage through allowing their employees to volunteer to help develop those programs to help develop the best future employees. However, even in wealthy communities like yours, it often comes down to dollars and cents. Perhaps there are not enough student perceived as "gifted" to make all the effort worthwhile.

Answer 6

etpilot had it right. What most people don't understand is that Special education isn't only for children with LD or Physical problems. Special just mean any one who either learns differently than most or who need special accommodations for a physical disability. Your parents should fight to get you either advance classes or you could call the nearest college and see if they have course that you can take now for college credits. Most of them will. Check it out and see if they can help you. The reason that the government spend more money on educating children with Learning disabilities is because they may not learn if someone doesn't teach them the way that they need to learn. Gifted children will learn no matter what. I"m not saying that they should have their needs met also but that they are less likely to drop out of school than a child with LD. Also there are more children with LD and there are gifted. I out of 5 children have LD whereas 2 out of ten children are considered Gifted, I mean with an IQ over 130 so it makes sense to spend more money on LD, Also if more parents of Gifted children would understand that their children are considered special education and if they would fight for them the way that we fight for our children with LD than you would have more gifted programs in the system. Lets hope that if you have a gifted child that you're willing to fight so that they have more programs than you did.

Answer 7

Immediately call the Department of the Interior's Office of Civil Rights!!
This is an abrogation of YOUR civil rights. According to I.D.E.A.--the law that controls this--Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)is part of special education funding and is entitled to a fair share of the monies allocated to your district for special education. If the district's board is allowing this money to be spent inappropriately it is FRAUD! School boards, like everyone else in our culture HAVE to follow the rules. Your age is nonsequitir, ie, irrelevant to the issue at hand.

Answer 8

Hi PureSerendipity,

You have two questions there. 1: is the public school system being fair? and 2: don't I deserve a chance to hone my talents, too?

Both excellent questions. I'll take one at a time.

But first a caveat: I think that being gifted in the U.S. is one of the hardest things to deal with. Giftedness has special needs, but most people think that asking for them is wrong.

So...

1. Fairness depends on the goal, and who is defining what "fair" is. If the goal is to make sure every person gets 2000 calories of food a day, and in fact, everyone DOES get 2000 calories of food a day, it could be argued that this is fair. But if those calories are all in potatoes, and if a 12 pound baby gets the same number of potatoes as a 225 pound, 6' 5" man does, one could argue that it isn't fair. So we're back to where we started.

Public schools were set up to insure the general success of our country, to make us "good citizens" which means making sure we can follow instructions, and work to the goals defined by others. Private schools were set up for all kinds of things, depending on the school. But there is a reason most of the really successful people in the US went to private schools: that was the only place where they were able to get an education that allowed them to learn to be successful leaders, instead of successful followers.

In other words, public schools do not actually have a goal to help people like you. (Generalization...there are some public schools who get a great principal who is into gifted education, and they have such a goal. But I'm talking nationally, not specifically.)

The public school system has rarely had the goal to raise up all students to the best of their ability. Instead, the schools (NCLB is the best example of this) want to do everything in their power to insure everyone is at least adequate. Spending a lot of money on kids who are below average, is a long-range goal. It helps insure that those kids will grow up to be tax *payers*, not social services *problems*.

On the other hand, gifted kids are unlikely to become a tax drain on the system, no matter what the schools do or don't do for them.

The system is not being fair to individuals. It is trying to give "the same number of calories to everyone." But it is being fair to the average tax payer who pays into the system to support public schools, and wants the best use of their tax payer dollars.

The public school system is also not worried about neglecting our best and brightest, because they know that the wealthy will send their kids to private schools.

However...there is also a reason that historically kings did not send their kids to school at all, but hired private tutors, the very best in their fields: that allowed their kids to accomplish all they could, as fast as they wanted, and never be held back by other students.

Question 2

Yes, you deserve a chance to hone your talents. And no one is stopping you. But the public school isn't interested in spending time on helping you get there, either.

There are a variety of options besides progressing to the next grade. An easy one is skipping a grade or two or three (if you are not in high school yet). Another easy one is taking college classes instead of all high school classes. Another one is homeschooling, and convincing your parents that you will learn on your own most of what they'd teach you in any school, and for the parts you wouldn't, you could take private classes or have private tutors. Of course, that part depends on what state you are in, and the laws for homeschooling there.

Forcing a kid to "learn" what they already know is a kind of slow, silent torture. And getting most adults to understand that, is very hard.

Finally, get the book "Genius Denied" and download "A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students" (links in the sources below) for extensive information on this issue.
.

Answer 9

I heard at my old high school, parents complained about AP and other advanced courses. Parents were upset that their children were not allowed to join in on the advanced classes because typically students in AP classes took advanced classes throughout high school in order to get into those AP classes. Now all of the dumb students who jerk off all day in class are allowed to mix with the advanced students and have a chance. What I last heard was that this did not work very well because now the regular students are getting in the way, and slowing the pace for the advanced students. Thanks again, complaining parents! They should spend more time bothering their dumb-*** kids to actually study.

Any how, some students from other high schools came to ours to join in our class and have a chance at AP courses. I would look into that. Good luck!

Answer 10

Doesn't your school have AP courses? Being "gifted" as well, I was fairly bored with school, but now I'm taking seven classes, three of which are college level and one of which is conducted in a lab. Not bored anymore, I can tell you that.