GrassrootsPA

5 Comments

1. Conservative Goddess
   Posted May 4, 2008 at 2:49 pm | Permalink

   This is a step in the right direction, however success should be measured by the actual increase in the number of students who receive an appropriate education. I have no real faith that the state is capable of delivering a solution.

   For those who may be interested, the cyber schools are hosting a “Day on the Hill” on Tuesday, May 13th. I will be loading my evil, diesel-swilling SUV with students from the Penn-Trafford School District who were NOT provided an appropriate education and who chose to enroll in the cyber school as a direct result. We will be meeting with our legislators to provide the benefit of the student and parental perspective and provide real faces to what is often an academic argument.

2. Greg Yoest
   Posted May 5, 2008 at 1:23 pm | Permalink

   I don’t know what is all involved with this new change in PA’s laws/regulations on Gifted Ed, but I know that I was a “victim” of this system back in the late 1970s/early 1980s. What happened in my case and at my school was that when “Gifted Ed” kicked in around the mid-70s, the regular teachers just “outsourced” all their smart kids and dumped them off into that bureaucratic categorization. As such, many teachers who used to give advanced/extra work and guidance for kids who were (well) above the level of most of the rest of the class simply got dumped into that bureaucratic categorization, were foisted off onto teachers who had gotten assigned to “Gifted Ed” whether they knew what they were talking about or not, and the net result was that smart(er) kids were probably *worse* off because of this state-mandated program than they were before it. Once again, that’s my personal story, but since I’ve kept somewhat in touch with what was going on in my old school over the years, as well as a few other schools here and there, it seems to me like not much has changed. To me, these “gifted” programs are excellent manifestations of “Quinn’s First Law,” which for those of you who don’t know what that is, states basically–”Liberal programs always generate the exact opposite of their stated intents.”

   I’d like to go on some more on this thread, but since it could take hours, I’ll leave it at that for now and see where, if anywhere, anyone else wants to go with this thread.

3. Conservative Goddess
   Posted May 5, 2008 at 1:39 pm | Permalink

   Gifted kids used to be grouped together, clustered if you will, so they could progress or delve more deeply into subject matter. Today, classrooms are “normalized” so that each classroom represents the full spectrum…….from the slowest to the smartest…..so while the slow kids are struggling, the smart kids have already gotten it and are bored to tears, daydreaming, mentally vacationing, whatever. Public education is a mess. As I said, I have little faith the state can adequately educate the gifted child.

   I left high school, didn’t graduate, left. I transferred college credits back to the high school and “graduated” with my class…..but I left. I couldn’t take it. My son is in the same boat. He left, enrolled in cyber school, but unfortunately, his love of learning doesn’t seem to be returning as I’d hoped it would……..He day dreams though the community college classes too.

4. Rich Talbert
   Posted May 5, 2008 at 2:04 pm | Permalink

   “so while the slow kids are struggling, the smart kids have already gotten it and are bored to tears, daydreaming, mentally vacationing, whatever.”

   These kids are now labeled “ADD” or “ADHD” to give parents and teachers a break. If only both groups chose to challenge the kids instead of pigeonhole them…

   Kudos to you, CG for pulling your kid out of government school and pushing him along!

   My kids will never see the inside of a government school.

5. Conservative Goddess
   Posted May 5, 2008 at 2:18 pm | Permalink

   You are smarter than I am, Rich. I NEVER should have put my kids back in the public school when we returned from abroad. Never. My mistake.