Each of us in the early retirement group remembers what it was like in school. It was a tiny microcosm of fragmented social groups. Some groups were popular while others came together to rebel against the popular crowd. Even within these groups, further stratification was based on who was interested in school work and who was not. Not that academic success mattered within the group, yet he was still accepted as a member and given the status he thought he deserved. As we graduated, we moved from high school groups to college or social groups and did our best to maintain our status for as long as possible. In general, most of us were successful in life in one way or another and gave birth to the next generation that would go through the challenge until it was repopulated again.
Every generation that has experienced public education has seen fit to allow the cream to rise to the top and take its place as leaders in the perpetuation of the American social and political ideal. Gifted students received unique and surplus resources that enabled them to develop their talents so they could graduate from high school and take their place among their peers at the college honors table. From this table of Phi Beta Kappans and research assistants, it was assumed that the gifted student would maintain his grades and the quality of work required to move on to graduate school where he would earn his academic credential. This would catapult them into the elite of medicine, law, politics, science, etc. Here are our leaders! They achieved their goals with the blood, sweat, and tears of their high school teachers.
Fast-forward to the 21st century, where the number of gifted students has skyrocketed in number as if they were on academic steroids. Today’s gifted student is not that different than he was in the 20th century. Yet their numbers and membership have been invaded by the greatest disease it has ever produced in the early 21st century: Equality with a secondary dose of justice! If you walk into my employer’s high school, since it starts right after Labor Day, you will see a sea of students having labels attached. Some of those labels will say “504”, some will say “SPEED” and some will say “Gifted”. Many of these gifted children will have had the gifted label attached from the earliest days of elementary school and have carried it with them ever since. However, once you start working with these kids, the “g” and “I” start to drop from the gifted label. They complain, cry and complain about how difficult your class is and start opening their Ipods while you try to teach them. Wait a minute! Are these the same children who have been gifted all along? What happened to their ability to step up on their own and accept those extra assignments and research work to build their future? You start wondering if they really got those grades or if they were just passed on to you by the previous teacher to get out of their hair.
Yes, in the name of equality and justice, the gifted class has been invaded by once mediocre students who were once content to sit in regular classes and do their nails and discuss the series of plays from Friday’s football game. at night. As I sit and work with the gifted classes these days, I see the cream of the crop (they are always there) working toward their future goals. But now they must sit in the same classes as the grassroots group whose parents insisted that they be labeled gifted and take the upper-level classes. Instead of the gifted teacher spending quality time educating them to achieve these amazing goals, the gifted teacher must now spend that resource on those students who don’t need to be in the gifted class. Equality has suggested that there should not be one class of students above another. Fairness suggests that it’s not okay to punish those poor mediocre students for getting their nails done in class. They should have the right to be gifted.
Coming soon in Part 2: Why there needs to be a separate “gifted” program in all schools.