{"id":6,"date":"2019-11-06T08:10:12","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amexpas.net\/articulos\/?p=6"},"modified":"2019-11-09T20:18:50","modified_gmt":"2019-11-09T20:18:50","slug":"stop-scapegoating-gifted-students-for-inequality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amexpas.net\/articulos\/stop-scapegoating-gifted-students-for-inequality\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Scapegoating Gifted Students for Inequality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The faulty logic behind intensifying attacks on gifted education<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
When I began teaching children with cognitive difficulties more than \n40 years ago, it seemed that everyone I met had something positive to \nsay about me or my job selection: \u00abYou must have infinite patience.\u00bb \u00abWe\n need more teachers willing to work with students who learn \ndifferently.\u00bb \u00abI could never do such a demanding job.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several years later, after having worked with a 5th grader who had \nboth learning challenges and an incredibly sharp intellect, I changed my\n career focus to the other end of the special education continuum: I \nbecame a teacher of gifted children. Never before had I worked with such\n a complex child\u2014one who both excelled academically while simultaneously\n facing definite learning and behavioral issues. I figured if one child \nlike this existed, others did, too. I wanted to help these types of \nkids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I thought that my work with gifted kids would be considered as valuable as my work with children with cognitive difficulties. However, that’s when the laudatory comments stopped and vocal criticisms took the place of the close-to-sainthood comments I had received earlier in my career: \u00abWe should spend our scarce education dollars on kids who really<\/em> need it, not gifted kids.\u00bb \u00abGifted kids don’t need you half as much as those who struggle to learn.\u00bb \u00abWhy are you teaching kids who already have it made in school?\u00bb <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00abToday’s gifted children and their special education programs are blamed for many of society\u2019s ills.\u00bb <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
It all seemed so odd to me, as common sense would dictate that\n whichever extreme of the intellectual bell curve children fell on, they\n would have unique learning needs not experienced by so-called \u00abaverage \nstudents.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, I experienced this logical schism more than four decades \nago, so things would certainly be different today, in 2019. And they \nare. The schism is worse. Today’s gifted children and their special \neducation programs are blamed for many of society’s ills\u2014educational \ninequality, racial and economic divisions, and the promotion of elitism \namong the parents whose children have been identified as gifted. I’m not\n exactly sure why this schism has gotten bigger instead of smaller, but \nit might have something to do with our collective American discomfort in\n labeling some kids more intellectually capable than others. And, as a \nresult, gifted kids have become the educational scapegoats for \ndetractors seeking to blame them for simply being themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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