|
|
|
|
rolling rock
The Pinball
|
|
|
Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 16218
Location: unknown zone
|
| Back to top
|
|
 Posted: 11/20/02 - 09:10 Post subject: gifted programs
at our school make me cringe. Parents are meddling big time on this issue. they are pressuring the district to have their angels tested with reasoning such as ... All of her brothers and sisters were in the program.... If her friend Bobby-Jo made it, i know she can, cuz Bobby-Jo is a stupid idiot.....NOW TEST MY CHILD.
Child doesn't make it. Parents will pressure for re-testing. The district will cave and retest. (all in the name of leaving no one behind).
Kids who don't make it feel stupid. Kids who do make it, dance around like they've won the lottery. The equivalent of a 3rd grade thrusting banana dance.
i refuse to run interferance for my daughter. if they thought she qualified, they would call. If they would call, i would tell them to take a friggin' hike--the program is a damn joke.
Is a "gifted" program even credible or valid if parents are running the show -- once again -- no one seems to have taken my Apathetic Parenting 101.
when we lived in Raleigh NC, my son was in a huge 3rd grade class. when the "gifted children" got up to go to their program, he and three other kids were left sitting there in silence. Parents were truly running that show. and what a sideshow it was.
do i sound bitter or do i have any type of point here? gifted schmifted.
|
|
|
|
|
copteacher
Adjunct
|
|
|
Joined: 08 Jun 2002
Posts: 20588
Location: Teaching in the Halls of Justice
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 09:25 Post subject:
not bitter RR just tired of these elitist parents who only want it so they can brag
it is living their life through their kids
let kids be kids
|
|
|
|
|
purple hayes
Frightened Inmate #2
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 14462
Location: ON YOUR LEFT!
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 09:26 Post subject:
So, Mrs. Rock, tell us how you really feel.
I think the gifted program has some merit. The girl that lives across the street from us was talented/smart enough that she was actually able to test out of 8th grade and went from 7th grade to freshman in high school just this year. I don't doubt that she's capable of doing the academic work, but I think she needs to brush up on her social skills.
|
|
|
|
|
Erstwhile Lurker
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 4047
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 10:42 Post subject:
| purple hayes wrote: | | I don't doubt that she's capable of doing the academic work, but I think she needs to brush up on her social skills. |
That doesn't make someone a bad person. 
|
|
|
|
|
keltic63
the kilted one
|
|
|
Joined: 17 May 2002
Posts: 8574
Location: under the weather
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 11:32 Post subject:
my kids were in a great gifted program in elementary school but now that they are in the sr/jr high the program is going downhill. I would say that most gifted programs are a joke. your story RR sounds like Garrison Keillor and Lake Wobegon: where all the children are above average.
gifted kids rarely rise to the heights that they are capable of, and when it comes to success the average kids do just as well if not better than those identified as gifted.
|
|
|
|
|
spongebob
Former FFL Champion
|
|
|
Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 3602
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 12:14 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
|
spongebob
Former FFL Champion
|
|
|
Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 3602
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 12:20 Post subject:
I'm thankful for my skool's gifted program. Really.
|
|
|
|
|
Erstwhile Lurker
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 4047
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 12:25 Post subject:
My 9th grade teacher gave me extra reading, then we hung out over lunch to go over the books.
Twenty-five years later I'm happy to report that I'm still stalking her!
|
|
|
|
|
akern
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 31 May 2002
Posts: 17149
Location: CTU
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 12:35 Post subject:
| keltic63 wrote: | my kids were in a great gifted program in elementary school but now that they are in the sr/jr high the program is going downhill. I would say that most gifted programs are a joke. your story RR sounds like Garrison Keillor and Lake Wobegon: where all the children are above average.
gifted kids rarely rise to the heights that they are capable of, and when it comes to success the average kids do just as well if not better than those identified as gifted. |
I was in gifted from the 1st grade to 12th. We did fun things in grade school but in high school it was kind of a joke. We didn't do much. It was more like getting an A for study hall.
Also I don't recall every kid getting tested, and it wasn't something that was announced to the class. It was a discrete envelope sent home to my parents asking permission for me to take the test. The teacher didn't even tell me what it was!
| Quote: |
gifted kids rarely rise to the heights that they are capable of, and when it comes to success the average kids do just as well if not better than those identified as gifted. |
I am a prime example of that one! Straight A honor roll student that didn't go to college. At 25 I took a years worth of classes and was relieved to find that school still came easy. I was working on an Associates in Drafting (still have to finish a year  ). I might get to it again. someday
The kids that I thought were all brain dead probably make twice my salary down at the Chrysler plant. 
|
|
|
|
|
cherylpf
crazy cat lady
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 17305
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 12:38 Post subject:
Thank you X, I was thinking of the exact same Far Side but I don't have that whole image posting thing down yet...
|
|
|
|
|
keltic63
the kilted one
|
|
|
Joined: 17 May 2002
Posts: 8574
Location: under the weather
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 12:53 Post subject:
| cherylpf wrote: | | Thank you X, I was thinking of the exact same Far Side but I don't have that whole image posting thing down yet... |
not in the gifted class?
|
|
|
|
|
Erstwhile Lurker
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 4047
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 12:55 Post subject:
| keltic63 wrote: | | cherylpf wrote: | | Thank you X, I was thinking of the exact same Far Side but I don't have that whole image posting thing down yet... |
not in the gifted class? |
If he was really gifted, he would have reduced it before he posted it so I would not have to scroll the )(*&^%$#@! page to see this thread!
|
|
|
|
|
rolling rock
The Pinball
|
|
|
Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 16218
Location: unknown zone
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 12:55 Post subject:
don't get me wrong, i truly believe gifted children are our gift. we need more 140 IQs out there - i want some diseases cured damnit. Gifted just needs to be redefined.
the cartoon is a hooooot.
gifted=every Tom, Dick and Harriet???
just like so many other things, this program and the ideas behind it have been diluted and twisted and screwed up by meddlesome parents at the expense of the truly gifted kids.
in our district, IQs are floating around like batting averages. THAT is stupid.
|
|
|
|
|
genie
Master of Prissface
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 16194
Location: Finding serenity one day at a time
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 13:01 Post subject:
I was pulled out of my elementary school in 3rd grade and sent to the only school in the district that had a whole program for gifted children. It was wonderful, we really got to do some neat things and I would have recommended it to anyone. Needless to say, the program has since degenerated into a few hours' "enrichment" a week for those who qualify. Like akern said, ours was a discreet thing too although back then I don't think parents were idiots like they are now, as competitive and all that nonsense. My parents were like, whatever, OK, move her where you want, do we have to drive or is there a bus?
If done right, a gifted program can really be beneficial, but the funding for all special needs kids at either end of the spectrum has been cut so drastically that most programs now don't work and only serve to do what RR says, alienate those "special" ones and make the rest feel like dummies. Don't even get me started on the education system nowadays........ 
|
|
|
|
|
keltic63
the kilted one
|
|
|
Joined: 17 May 2002
Posts: 8574
Location: under the weather
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 11/20/02 - 13:02 Post subject:
| rolling rock wrote: | | in our district, IQs are floating around like batting averages. THAT is stupid. |
I know my kids' IQ's. They don't. which is how it should be for now. They don't need to be in school braggin about their numbers.
My son used to come home from kindergarten and say "I'm the smartest kid in the class." I would tell him "that may be true, but if you go around saying it, you're going to get beat up!" When you're smart, you don't have to tell people how smart you are.
|
|
|
|
