School System Dropping 'Gifted' Label

This isn't going to stop people from labeling children; they'll just find a different word for it.

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I nominate "college-track" as the replacement label. Sigh. "Gifted" is a crock of crap anyway; I was in a gifted program from 2nd to 8th grade, and none of it was interesting or challenging (except for the advanced math class in 2nd grade, which was mostly algebra and which, in retrospect, might not have been part of the gifted program per se). Just put the kids with about the same abilities in classes tailored to their needs and let it roll.

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I was in the "gifted program" but there was no place or time when I felt the desire to refer to myself as "gifted."

My view is that everyone has one or more gifts, and some gifts are more meaningful than others in school; some are more meaningful on the playground/ballfield, etc. So what?

Schools generally do a crappy job of providing appropriate educational opportunities for the academically gifted. This could be because "gifted" includes kids who are really not that brilliant but have more help at home or more motivation than other kids. The real question isn't where a child tests out, but what type of instruction would be most appropriate for that particular individual. Many so-called "gifted" kids thrive in the ordinary college-prep classroom, happy to get high scores without too much trouble, with spare time for reading the classics and drawing. (That was me.) A few need something much more challenging. I think some parents hear "gifted" and think their kids need to be in a "special class" or whatever. In that sense, the term "gifted" is not helpful. If your kid needs an exceptional education plan, you won't need a test score to tell you this.

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My first response was "eh"... but then I thought about it a bit. As much as people decry "labels" they're not always a bad thing.

When a student is labeled "dyslexic" he receives a specialized education plan. Same with those labeled "behaviorally different". The label "learning disabled" holds under it's umbrella a plethora of conditions, all of which receive some sort of specialized training. All of these labels are deemed vitally necessary in the Public School System, for without them, students would languish at the tail end of their classes, floundering in a system that doesn't work with them, in classes that are too advanced, with teachers that don't work with their special needs and limits.

Why, then, should it be different for "gifted" children? Because as the label goes, so goes the funding and the specialized programs. Those children who are "gifted" will simply be expected to maintain their interest in sub-par material on their own, do extra reading or extra credit where they can get it, and will probably be tapped to tutor those in their classes who are less advanced. I've seen it happen. I've lived it.

So before we say, "yeah! Great!! No Label!!" Think long and hard about it. Labels go both ways. Yes, the wrong label can hurt. But the way our system is structured, the correct label can help a child get what he or she needs to excel.

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I'm a gifted child, and I never liked the word "gifted" as a label. It sets me apart from the other students; I'd much rather be called some other word.
Also, we have had problems in our school system with the gifted program. It's complete crap. Our whole school system is. They used to "group" the students based on test scores. Top kids go in classes together, low students together, etc. Well, for the most part, they don't do that, because they didn't want to encourage the "you're smart, you're not" type feeling, AND because they think that the gifted students will teach the lower kids.
That's bull. It doesn't work. The advanced kids don't want to teach the lower kids. I've been there; I'll help the others out if they really need it, but I mostly end up just saying "forget it" and giving them the answers. Also, the lower kids limit how fast the advanced kids work. I know for sure that now, at this first semester end, at my own pace, I would be done with Geometry I AND Algebra II, which should take me two years.
I know i didn't reply directly to the article above, but here's what i'm trying to say:
-Gifted kids need to have their own classes.
-All gifted kids aren't good at the same things.
-The 'gifted' label may be taken away, but there will always be a label for us.
-You don't make normal work gifted kid work by making us do more of it. We just get sick and tired of it and don't do it. Generally we get the idea the first time, and don't need 300 extra problems to work on.(pet peeve)

Thanks for reading this...it was kind of long-winded.

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I was in the gifted/talented program throughout elementary school and middle school (it sort of peters out at the high school level in my district - it simply splits into five class level tracks, remedial [the absolutely lowest], academic, college-prep [the average class], honors, and AP [where available]), and I would have been tearing my HAIR out from boredom otherwise. There were six students, myself included, in the G&T pull-out program in my grade in elementary school; I started in the program in the third grade, after moving to the district in second. I was miserable in the second grade before I was placed in the program, because I was so far ahead of the majority of my classmates.

It's important that students who are truly advanced are challenged and encouraged to work hard. There's a growing trend in special education (from a technical standpoint, G&T is considered a branch of special education services, although VERY different from the main group) of what I had a professor refer to as slacker syndrome - students who are legitimately gifted, but aren't challenged and don't have anything more expected of them settle into a habit of doing what they have to, below their level, and excelling, and then being utterly lost when an ACTUAL challenge arises because they aren't accustomed to it.

The label isn't important, in my eyes - call the gifted kids whatever phrase you want. I think calling the other kids "normal" is a little mean .. what, like gifted kids are ABnormal, or weird?

And in my opinion (which I'm sure I'll take some heat for) .. "But the word "gifted" implies that something was given to you and you either got it or you didn't. And if you didn't, you never will. How can that not be discouraging to an average student?"
Well, some students are GIVEN to be gifted, and some students aren't. If you don't have that gift, you don't, period and the end. It doesn't mean you can't do just as well as someone who is "gifted", it just means you will have to work a little harder then they do for it. It's a fact of life, discouraging or not, and something children desperately need to learn - I feel like most of my generation has a terrifying sense of entitlement ... no one is being taught that sometimes, you struggle, and sometimes, you lose. If kids don't learn it when they're younger, it's a hell of a slap in the face by the time they get to college, or worse, to the real world!

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We used CAP (Creative Abilities Program) for our GT students. It was my favorite day of the week. We went from 3rd (or maybe 2nd) grade - 8th. There was a bit of it in high school, but it was with a different teacher and a different type of program. Where I went to school, we had a very wonderful and dedicated teacher who made everything pretty awesome. It really comes down to how the school handles the program. For us, CAP/GT was a separate class, once a week for the majority of the day. Our teacher would have all sorts of "out of the box" type of activities set up for us to do and get us out of the hum drum regular class stuff. There was a separate program for getting into the more advanced classes that I think most of you are associating with the GT moniker. We generally called it the honors program since it resulted in being an honors graduate. We had a lot more people in the program than in CAP. You didn't have to take every class in honors either. Only what you wanted (assuming you qualified for it) and it varied from true AP classes to simply taking classes people a grade or three ahead of you were taking.

I think that is the real differentiation for the gifted label... You need to get kids that want to be creative outside of the normal class (which needs to be changed considerably over all in general though) to really flex their brain. Doing senior level English when you are a freshman works an entirely different part of your abilities than constructing contraption out of classroom found supplies to cradle eggs from 30 foot falls.

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