The realities of the gifted and talented program
March 3, 2015
There are classes who contour to those who learn slower than most, so it seems reasonable that there would be classes built for the faster learners as well. That’s why the gifted and talented system makes sense, right? The program is sizeable, with more than fifty students per grade, with many joining in elementary school.
Initially needing a test to gain entrance, the test itself indicated most who enter the GT program will be by some metric, smarter than the normal child. Classes work at a faster pace, with more classwide discussion. Eventually, it gets to the point where these GT classes become their own friend group, as the continuity from year to year breeds friendship.
Once elementary school ends, many students see no reason to join GT. At that point, it appears more of a hassle than anything else. They’ve made it this far without GT, why increase the work and give up the friends? Most of the time, GT is a decision made by parents anyway, so by the time middle school stigmas roll around and kids make decisions for themselves, the applications are scarce.
To many non-GT students, the gifted and talented classes have the stereotype of being harder or featuring a lot more work. However, by the time you’re halfway through high school, most students will tell you that the differences are few between GT and other classes. There are some outliers, which include an extra project or two, but these have negligible effects in the grand scheme of things.
Most also see the GT kids as “nerds” due to a stigma toward intelligence, and the willingness of some of these students to isolate themselves with like minded people whom they feel comfortable with. Even though students in GT are generally believed to be smarter than the average student, there are many smart people who never made the jump into GT. A huge portion of the grade’s GPA leaders have never been in GT, and many of the smartest who never joined GT did so because they don’t need to be with other smart people to remain smart.
The GT environment can be beneficial. Classes are loud but not out of control, and discussions generally enhance the class. They are usually large, because there are only one or two GT classes at a time. The friendships are also worth sharing, and most in GT seem happy.
Nevertheless, GT seems like a bad idea to me. Segregating a part of the school based on a test taken years ago can breed resentment. Whereas GT students do make friends, there is no such thing as too many friends, and you’ll certainly seem more approachable to someone in non-GT classes if you are there with them.
GT students may initially mourn the loss of the learning environment, but placing students of various learning levels into the same room may be helpful to all. More students in “regular” courses will make the discussions for everyone better, instead of forming a potential elitist group. Others will regret the slower pace of normal classes, but anyone interested enough in GT should be willing to engage in extracurriculars which can expand their knowledge. GT may make sense to some people, but doing away with it could enrich the entire school instead of those select few labeled gifted and talented years ago.
Kate Morgan • Mar 6, 2015 at 9:21 pm
Although I understand what Matthew is saying. I completely disagree. I have been in a gifted and talented program since 1st grade and never has there been an “elitist” group. As a matter of fact, all of the people that I surround myself with outside of school do not associate themselves into a GT program. I think this story was a little narrow minded and consisted of no facts behind the accusations made. There is no major differences the in curriculum taught to GT and Pre/AP children, GT is simply people who think at a DIFFERENT not HIGHER level then others. I would like to see some evidence before anymore information bashing the GT program hits the Red Ledger again.
adviser • Mar 9, 2015 at 3:07 pm
We respect your opinion and welcome your comments Kate. In regard to your statement “I would like to see some evidence before anymore information bashing the GT program hits the Red Ledger again”, the column written by Matthew Norwood is a personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Red Ledger nor its staff as a whole. Journalism is comprised of two types of writing: news writing and opinion writing and Matt’s column is filed in its appropriate section.
Mandy Rickett • Mar 3, 2015 at 11:10 pm
To some extent I agree. It it more of the name of the advanced program I have a problem with than its actual institution. Gifted and Talented. It implies that those who are not in the GT program are not “Gifted” nor are they “Talented”. School tests less than half of the areas so the idea that a child is not gifted in a area because they are not within the the GT program is terrible and narrow minded. In Allen ISD, their advanced program is called something like Phoenix, which does not imply anything, it only distinguishes the difference between the classes.
Connor Redding • Mar 3, 2015 at 4:55 pm
The reason GT kids are separated is because we pick up new concepts quicker than the average student. In “normal” classes, many ideas are repeated again and again to ingrain them in students brain, which a GT student would pick up on the first explanation, and then become extremely bored when the same subject was again repeated. Many GT kids would fail if put into normal classes, if they truly are a “Gifted & Talented” student. GT classes are defined as Special ed, and rightly so, because our brains process information differently from the norm. Placing GT kids in normal classes would also be detrimental to “normal” students, as the class would have to move to more of an accelerated pace to keep with the quicker learners. Also, many GT kids have discussions during class which have so many tangents it looks like a cartoon sun if you graph it, which would derive the main class of learning opportunities that would benefit the majority of the class greatly. I moved to Lovejoy isd from Frisco isd because of the GT program, at Frisco, in 2nd Grade, I could jump into 5th grade at my learning level, here, I was only about 1 grade ahead, which balanced with the Lovejoy GT program. In 1st grade I wrote all my answers backwards because I wanted a challenge, the teacher hated it because she thought I was out to get her, when all it was was that I was at an accelerated learning level in comparison to the average student. Many GT kids would be like this, not exactly of course, if forced to merge with standard classroom environments. TL;DR Removing GT classes would be a terrible idea for both GT students and “Normal” Students.