Gifted Education, Minorities and New Year Resolutions
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I do.
No matter how many times you make the same old promise and fall short
you get to try one more time—no questions asked, no recriminations
tendered. It’s a new year, and maybe a
new you. What if we could ask the nation
to accept the same optimistic opportunity for renewal?
Given
that chance, I would like to see us start an aggressive campaign to improve
gifted education in this country. Our
gifted students are an at risk group.
They have a drop out rate equal to all other students (about 5%) but
when we lose a gifted student we lose a rare and precious resource. Unlike students who are musically or
athletically gifted there are few bond issues or bake sales devoted to
providing special uniforms, special teachers, special buildings and special
materials for the gifted. There is
precious little sympathy for their needs and no legislation to make sure that
none of them are left behind. Worst,
there is an assumption in the educational, “triage” which occurs on an hourly
basis in America
It is time to boldly say that all students are not
created equal, nor should they be treated that way. An educational system designed to homogenize
its students will regress toward the mean at the expense of the entire society. Those who are more interested in equality
than excellence will start grinding their molars when they hear this, but if we
get more educational bang for the buck by providing an exceptional education
for exceptional students than what is lost by doing that? Let me make this clear, I am not in
favor of taking one penny or an iota of respect away from other school
programs. I want something much more
revolutionary. I want a bold, conceptual
change that would mandate schools to provide our gifted students with extra
effort, extra time, special instruction and unique facilities. I want new
money, dedicated in proportionately larger amounts to these students. Special gifts merit special attention and
most of these gifted students are going to be found in our ever increasing
population of minority students. That is
very, very good, because Hispanics, African-Americans and girls are
under-represented in science, mathematics and engineering. We must not lose one of these students.
Unfortunately,
there is a residual jealousy and suspicion in the population at large of people
with intellectual advantage. The same exceptional
talent, expressed in sports, is lauded.
In music or the arts it is tolerated, though considered, “quirky;” but
exceptional intelligence is considered suspect.
Part of this is due to the American attitude that physical acumen is
inherently more meritorious than its mental counterpart. The entrepreneur is given less respect than
the workmen he employs, even though his effort, hours of toil, and investment
of self are greater. It is a carry over
from our frontier past, when worth was measured in physical evidence of
production. If body and soul were to be
kept together food had to be coaxed from the ground, shelter acquired through
toil and advancement won on a harshly temporal landscape. President Lyndon B. Johnson was famous for
disparaging, “thinkers” over, “doers.”
Evidently, if you can’t see the work being done, it doesn’t count!
This
perception is wrong, but changing 200 years of enculturation is no job for the
feint of heart. Yet, it can be done with
a little of that New Year’s resolve.
Let’s make our best and brightest students a priority in every American
classroom.
Reward
excellence and keep the faith.
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