![]() ![]() If we lined up all the gifted children in the world, the vast majority would be poor, because the poor far outnumber the rich. “Although the incidence of giftedness may be higher in the higher economic stratum, the absolute number of gifted people will be greater in the lower classes” (Zigler & Farber, 1985, p. On the contrary, for 50 years, research has shown that the gifted come from all socio-economic classes (Dickinson, 1970). Gifted education has been wrongly accused of conferring more advantages on the advantaged. (Wright, 2020) Most Gifted Children Are Poor So rich kids…still get access to enrichment and acceleration…whereas poor and minority kids in the city do not.Īs calls increase to eliminate gifted programs in the name of equity, policymakers and school leaders must resist them-and recognize that bowing to that misguided pressure will do more harm, not less, to their Black and Brown students. …too many districts serving poor students and students of color have taken previous and misguided charges of racism to heart and eliminated their own gifted education programs… Proponents of this fallacious view have long been more effective in shaming urban districts in deep-blue cities to eliminate gifted education than they have been with their affluent and suburban counterparts. …to better prepare Black, Hispanic, and low-income children to excel academically…we need to make sure that the most promising among them get enrichment and acceleration. It’s Not Inherently Racist.” Wright says: Brandon Wright composed an excellent rebuttal, posted on the Fordham Institute website October 29th: “Gifted Education Done Right Benefits Black and Hispanic Children. In the latest attack, on October 14th, NBC News published a report by Rachel Blustain claiming that “gifted programs worsen equality.” The article mistakes gifted programs for outdated “tracking,” implies that these programs are segregated and racist, and recommends that they be discontinued. Sadly, gifted programs are recurrent scapegoats of a racially biased society. ![]() We worsen inequality, because children of privilege have access to a wealth of resources, whereas children with limited means are dependent on public schools to identify and develop their special abilities. If we abandon gifted programs, as we are being entreated to do once again, we ignore the benefits of gifted programs for diverse students like Michelle Obama. She graduated cum laude from Princeton where she did her thesis on “Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community.” She went on to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School. Michelle attended Chicago’s first magnet high school for gifted students. She learned French and took accelerated courses. By sixth grade, she stood out among her peers and began attending gifted classes. But it would be difficult to do so because he would have to create an alternative and inevitably contentious scheme in the first months of his administration, according to the Times.At the age of 4, Michelle read fluently. If Adams is elected mayor, as he likely will be, he could reverse de Blasio's order. 2 mayoral election, has opposed eliminating the gifted and talented programs, instead calling to expand them and offer the courses to more students. "After years of advocacy, another tool of segregation is being eliminated," said one organization, New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools.Įric Adams, the Democratic nominee for the Nov. "Anti-racist" activist groups applauded the mayor's decision. The mayor proposed an alternative to the gifted and talented programs that would see students assessed at the third grade and offered "accelerated instruction" in classes with other students receiving standard instruction. "The era of judging four-year-olds based on a single test is over," de Blasio said in a statement. But an April poll found that a majority of New Yorkers support the programs. The gifted classes comprise about three-quarters white and Asian students, according to the New York Times. Under de Blasio's overhaul, the programs will be phased out, with the current cohort of enrollees being the last to learn in gifted classes through elementary school.Ĭritics of the gifted and talented programs say they enforce racial segregation in schools and stand in the way of racial equity. The classes, known as "gifted and talented" programs, group together elementary school students who perform well on an admissions exam they take when they're four years old. ![]()
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