|
Katy Citizen Watchdog$ |
|
We’re Taxpayers. It’s Our Money. |
|
Who’s Really Gifted? |
|
An article in the Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3640786.html) recently announced that Houston ISD has a committee working on a report about their Gifted and Talented program, otherwise known as the Vanguard Program. The gist of the article centered on changing the method of entry into the program from having parents nominate their own children to having every child eligible be entered with the option of parents being able to remove their child if that is their wish. The article described the Vanguard program, the logistics for it’s being part of the curriculum, the fact that 10% of the students in HISD are stipulated as being “gifted” and so on. Houston ISD’s gifted program is typical of those that exist in Texas. The opt in feature rather than the opt out feature is prevalent. The percentage of students labeled gifted, however, is a vacillating number. For many years I have questioned the opt in feature of the program. To not include all students who are truly gifted is illogical. For many years I have also questioned the arbitrary percentages of students that can be labeled as gifted. To say that ten percent of all students in every school district should be accommodated in a gifted program is questionable. There are school districts that have a much higher percentage, but it is difficult to tell the actual numbers from the TEA statistics because they evidently include all students, and of course most students have opted out of the program by secondary school years as there is not much offered for them that is of value and/or they have taken advantage of AP course offerings instead. Giftedness is limited by its very definition to probably the top three percent of the students and then only in school districts with populations that have high IQ’s. Katy ISD used to provide additional instruction to only the top 3% of the students in elementary school. That number has probably quadrupled since then. Of course, in the last twenty years, no effort has been made to measure Intelligence Quotients, and therein lies the problem. Other scoring mechanisms have been contrived to find those who have an above average ability intellectually. Some of these methods work and some are simply mindless. Since mostly criterion referenced tests are given to our students, and no IQ tests are given as politically correct thinking stipulates that “all children are the same,” one is hard pressed to discover who is actually intellectually gifted by virtue of test scores. Another ruse that has been foisted on the public is the “talented” part of the designation. Supposedly “all” children have talents, and perhaps they do, but “talent” has nothing to do with intellectual abilities regarding academic endeavor. I fear that the GT program is being used for some reasons that are not appropriate. The program can be a way to separate children. It can also be a way to elevate those who do not deserve to be elevated. Parents must decide for themselves the agenda of those who manipulate these children. Imagine the damage to children who are told they are “gifted” when they find out they are not! There are certain factors that indicate giftedness and one can find such lists in all sorts of places. If parents suspect that their child is truly intellectually gifted, they have an obligation to that child to see to it that the child receives an appropriate education. Fighting for one in our public schools is probably a waste of time. For one thing, those who teach in such programs are ordinarily not themselves gifted, and that fact leads to lots of problems for affected children. The public schools are notorious for assuming that they know everything about this subject, and when attending “Gifted and Talented” parent meetings, they will amusedly talk down to the parents of the gifted students! They evidently haven’t read enough to know that intellectual ability is mostly inherited. Taking charge of the education of your gifted child is the parent’s responsibility. Good books on the subject abound. I recommend Guiding the Gifted Child by James T. Webb, Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, and Stephanie S. Tolan. It is old enough (1987) to not be tainted by politically correct thinking. Also Growing Up Gifted (1979) by Barbara Clark is also an excellent resource. Both are available as used books from www.alibris.com
|
|
Mary McGarr, Katy Citizen Watchdog$ |
|
Date: 02/07/2006 |
