- Kids’ Art On Display – Healdsburg, California
As I was catching up with the news yesterday, I read the “Superintendent’s Corner” in this week’s issue of the Chinook Observer in which Boyd Keyser discusses the program cuts that must be made in Ocean Beach School District: The first area to be hit was our Highly Capable program that offers services to our most gifted students…
I was not surprised. Smart kids get short shrift. That has been a truism for as many years as I have been involved in education. At one time I could rattle off the dollar amount spent on our gifted and highly capable students vs. the amount spent on those at the other end of the spectrum. The difference was/is shocking. Especially when you consider that those with the highest ability are most likely to become our leaders in future years.
During the 1972-1973 school year, I was given a leave from my classroom in the Hayward Unified School District to develop a district-wide program for gifted students at the elementary level. I taught in that program for the next several years and then elected to return to the regular classroom – mostly because I was spending a disproportionate amount of energy on the “politics” of giftedness and on educating adults, rather than on the education of kids.
Basically, it’s just not popular to be smart in our society. It’s not democratic. The prevailing attitude has always been “If kids are really gifted, they’ll ‘get it’ no matter what.” Parents, teachers, the general public have little sympathy for the smart kids. How often I heard “Well, he doesn’t even do his homework. He certainly can’t be excused from class for a special program.” Or, “She spends all her time day-dreaming; she’s definitely not gifted.” And a host of similar complaints.
Attitudes toward giftedness haven’t changed much over the years. While we recognize that kids with low IQs (that term also has become a no-no) learn differently from average kids, we turn a blind eye to the way very smart kids learn. Research shows that, even in a gifted class, an exceptionally gifted child may have difficulty finding appropriate challenges because of the need to move at a much faster pace, the ability to process material in greater depth, and the increased sensitivity, awareness, and intensity. Even teachers of gifted students seldom know how, nor have they been specifically educated, to deal with kids who may well learn differently from the teachers, themselves.
But, God forbid that we invest in our own future by investing in smart kids. We have been failing them for years, as the alarming statistics of our plummeting place in the world attests. There was a time when smarts counted. In my mother’s day, if you couldn’t pass the eighth grade exam, you didn’t go on to secondary school. You joined the work force and education dollars were spent on those who were ‘able.’ I’m not advocating the return to that situation. But thinking about it does give one pause – especially considering where we were then in turning out doctors and scientists and diplomats and where we are now.
Maybe this should be a letter to the Editor in response to the Superintendent’s Corner article so the rest of the community knows that the gifted children need help just as much or if not more than the “special ed” kids!!
Ocean Beach School District funded the Gifted and Talented program for the current school year. However, in December, Gov. Gregiore suggested a radical move in light of the $1.2 billion budget shortfall–essentially, she proposed that Districts be required to give back this budgeted money to the state! She also proposed that K-4 class size reduction monies be given back, even though teachers were hired and contracts signed. This is an example of Olympia passing the buck on their state mandate to fully fund education. In these tough economic times, education is being dismantled piece by piece, but not by our local school district. I just want to clarify that a part-time teacher is currently operating the Gifted and Talented Program. It serves over 20 students in Ocean Beach School District.
All true but, sadly, no matter where we place the ‘blame,’ the fact remains that until we get serious about the importance of education in this country, we will continue to face these sorts of scenarios year after year. It is a societal problem, deepseated, perhaps not fixable. Depressing, but there it is.
I’ve always thought that education was treated like a sales force in the business world. the smart businesses always beefed up sales and saw it a survival tool in tough times and the ones who thought that sales were the first place to cut, since they didn’t actually manufacture product, often failed.
I have had experiences with 2 countries and gifted children with learning disabilities and major medical issues, very challenging from all perspectives, ultimately it is the individual teacher and the staff who make the difference. As the parent, you are the ultimate advocate for your child and there is no substitute for attentive and involved parents. It may “take a village”, but learning to navigate every different system is daunting. time consuming and frustrating. Many parents don’t have the resources, be it time understanding or patience to run the gauntlet.
To make the course even harder by removing resources is unconscionable.
I got a kick out of the budgets in Canada, when school funding was cut it wasn’t shop class, or programs, it was transportation followed by lunches….something that affected families and their bottom line immediately and got attention and funding!
When budget cuts become necessary (and they always do!) I think it would be interesting to ax all sports programs and physical education classes rather than eliminating anything to do with academics. I’m sure that most of the populace would rally round to see to find funding from somewhere. Unfortunately, we don’t put the same priority on our children’s mental agility as we do on their physical prowess.
Education used to be this nation’s strong suit, but we have fallen far behind the rest of the developed world because American’s don’t value it the way their parents and grandparents did. If they want this country to thrive they need to change their thinking about what is important and realize that paying teachers a living wage to educate their children is more important than paying for their McMansions with bonus rooms and I dont’ know what all. The gifted students in particular, are an under-served population and I am saying that from the prespective of the parent and educator of Special Needs students. Although I hate having Special Education cut, I’d rather that than the gifted program because I know that those students will be paying taxes and supporting the population I work with as well as my daughter. Our district implemented pay-to-play when our levies failed, but other than PE, I think that sports should be cut before anything else.