Friday Fun

Save the my kid needs intellectual stimulation at school, All kids need to be intellectually stimulated, motivated and engaged.

jamblessedthree wrote:

I don't buy it either, All children are gifted when you come right down to it.

No, they aren't. Some children are above average. Some children are average. And some children are below average. This "all children are gifted" crap is exactly why gifted ed programs are cut. Because heaven forbid an administrator tell a parent that her child is not gifted. Some parents are fine with that. Others aren't. I know one mother at our elementary school who has raised holy hell for six years b/c her kid isn't in the program. He doesn't qualify. He is a straight A student. He's intelligent. He's a hard worker. He's a good kid. But he doesn't meet the criteria for the program, despite being tested (at mom's insistence) every single year. And I feel bad for HIM, b/c at the end of the day this isn't about him at all. It's about his mom wanting to be able to say her kid is in the gifted program. And that's ridiculous. It is the internalization of parenting, helicopter parenting to the extreme, the whole "my kid's success is MY success, my kid's failures are my failures so there will be no failures (perceived or otherwise)." Which is completely ridiculous and IMO, rather unhealthy. The fact that my son is in the gifted program at school doesn't mean jack squat for his future. It is a program to provide intellectual stimulation that is lacking in his normal classroom setting. It challenges him academically in a way that he isn't challenged in his normal classroom. And it is the highlight of his week. But it doesn't mean he is going to be more successful than a kid who isn't in the program. It isn't a feather in my parenting cap. It is a way to keep him engaged in the learning process. Period.