8:47am August 11, 2014

“Gifted children have no greater obligation than any other children to be future leaders or world class geniuses. They should just be given a chance to be themselves, children who might like to classify their collections of baseball cards by the middle initials of the players, or who might like to spend endless afternoon hours in dreamy reading of novels, and to have an education that appreciates and serves these behaviors.”

Jane Piirto (via ccathexis)

And the same opportunities and education should be given to all students.  One of the worst things about ‘gifted education’, to me, is that it offers enrichment in education that every student would be better served by receiving.  

When I look back at one gifted program I was in, I get very angry.  Because some of the students who would have benefited the most from the program, never would have made it into the program.  Because the program had an IQ cutoff.  And because the program spent most of its time teaching students how to do hands-on activities that many children with learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities (both of which would tend to bring their IQ too low for the program) would excel at and benefit from throughout their educations.  It makes my blood boil to think such a beautiful thing is restricted only to people who can pass a test.

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