In our board meeting at 6:30 AM(!) yesterday morning, we unanimously voted to allow Lorain Gifted Academy to re-open as "Menlo Park" under new management, with a new board. This charter school had received an "Excellent" rating, but closed because the management company, Constellation, chose to withdraw its support. In record time, the parents of the students banded together and fulfilled every legal obligation, including hiring four certified teachers, so that the school can re-open on Tuesday, September 23rd.
My stance on charter schools is typically a dubious one; I am an advocate of traditional public education, as evidenced by the choice my family has made in sending our children to Springfield Local. I had a question for those who had traveled to our meeting yesterday from Menlo Park: How do these parents and educators insure that their "gifted" children receive adequate interaction with other children? (I place "gifted" in quotation marks because I firmly believe that, in one way or another, every child is gifted.) I asked this in the context of my own experience, both as a child identified as "gifted" and as the parent of a "gifted" child. They had answers: the kids play soccer, participate in scouts, etc. The response was interesting...one parent mentioned that her child did not function well in a traditional public school, did not find himself to be challenged, and felt "different." Another parent came up to me later and said that her daughter just wanted to "fit in" and couldn't do that at the traditional public school. I understand and empathize with these positions, and I support this option for these children or I would not have voted in support of the school. However, I see it differently...
...the best education I received came in diverse, public settings where I had to struggle to find a niche, where I had to stretch, grow, experience rejection and learn that academic "giftedness" is only one of many talents that people possess. I had to learn side-by-side with kids who were rich, poor, black, white, boy, girl, and yes - academically gifted or "average" or even "academically challenged." One of my good friends during elementary school was a little girl named Robin who had mild mental retardation and development delays. Robin didn't care if I was smart or dumb; she was wise enough to know that if she would push me on the swings, I would push her back. I am grateful for Robin, and all that she taught me on a daily basis. I want the same for my children. I want them to learn how challenging difference can be, and how the true servant leader can turn it from an obstacle into a learning opportunity and appreciate all stripes of human being. Last year, my son received a character award at his elementary school for "acceptance." Mr. Lee, his teacher, noted that Seth accepted kids of all kinds, and treated them all with equal respect. My son has been identified as academically "gifted," and that's cool - but the fact that my son can "hang with his homies" and love 'em all the same - whether their IQ is over 127 (the official number designating "gifted") or under - is, in my opinion, the greatest "gift" of all. I hope that he never, ever changes.
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4 comments:
Very well written.
Quite frankly, Angela, I am very amazed at several striking similarities between the two of us of which I had not been aware prior to this entry on your blog.
If I weren't on the reading side of this posted entry, I would have thought it was me writing my views on traditional public schools, my thoughts on charter community schools, my own perspective about the "gifted" identification label and all children, my own childhood experiences in school, and the school experiences of my own children.
Maybe that's why we both get along so well with Judy! :) I think the world of that woman.
Seriously, I have had some really interesting responses to this post on both sides of the issue, and I wish the people would post publicly... I am going to invite them to do so...
interestingly, I have a cousin who attended Lorain Gifted Academy and I suspect will return to Menlo Park. This seems to work beautifully for her. My son, on the other hand, seems to thrive in his traditional environment. The school has accelerated him in some classes, he goes to the gifted program once a week, but generally he just rams around with everyone else and it seems to suit us all just fine.
I just have to imagine what it is like for the profoundly gifted to be in a school with typical students. When I was young, gifted started at 132. When my son was diagnosed as gifted, the IQ cut off was 30. As we lower it, it becomes less significant. When everyone is "special" no one is, to paraphrase The Incredibles. Now, though, for people whose IQ is over 145 or so, being in a school with typicals can be excruciating. And those are the kids who tend to end up in schools for gifted kids. My son, whose IQ is above 135 is tortured by being in class with kids and teachers who are typical, even in the class that is in his weak area and where he doesn't perform any better (and sometimes worse) than the more typical. He's only found solace in college classes. I was the same way as are my two kids who skipped grades this past year. Really? You have to be with other people 6-8 hours a day to learn to get along with them? Soccer, karate, 4-H, library volunteer time, etc. seems to work fine for us.
The fact of the matter is, a child who is profoundly or exceptionally gifted (and I don't think mine qualify at all in that area) is as vastly different from a moderately gifted kid with an IQ of 130 as a kid with an IQ of 130 is from one with an IQ of 95.
I have a friend who has struggled with this issue and her daughter for 14 years now. It's only when she started college at 14 that she has managed to find a niche, somewhat. I have another friend who is a librarian at a private school for gifted children and she, too, sees the difference. I'd be happy to put you in touch with either of them.
If a kid whose IQ was significantly below average and wasn't able to have his/her needs met in a traditional school attended a special school (and we have them...Woodlane in Wood county for instance) is it an issue? Why should it be any more of an issue for kids to go the other way?
Addmittedly, I have quite different ideas about education than most of your readers; I'm an advocate for charter schools; I am an advocate for homeschooling; I'm all for educational choice.
I did well knocking around with typicals. My son loves his friends, few of which would be considered academically gifted, but when it comes to academic work and discussions, he gets very rapidly frustrated. And teachers don't like it when you are smarter than they are and know more than they do. Admittedly most kids aren't very tactful about letting teachers know that the student knows more, but still, to have to sit in silence while the teacher makes mistakes...mistakes that don't really matter, but are wrong nonetheless and you KNOW IT can make for a LONG 12 years of life.
Gifted kids see the world differently and that needs to be taken into account when designing lessons and learning environments, and the "more" gifted, the bigger the difference. We'd never take a kid with profound learning disabilities and a limited IQ (since I also have a "gifted" with LD, I realize that, too makes a difference) and give him or her one day a week of special instruction and a slightly adjusted curriculum and think that was acceptable.
Here's some more explanation
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/underserved.htm
Thanks for posting your comment! I wanted others to be able to see what you shared with me. Awhile back I had a mom write to me about her son who is autistic, and did not do well in the traditional public schools, but is now doing very well at the MODEL school in Toledo. I think in any extreme situation, sometimes alternatives are necessary. I guess my biggest issue with charter schools is when they advertise themselves as "academies" for kids who just can't pay for private education, and then the charter school provides considerably less opportunity than the traditional school down the street - teachers that are not certified, academics that are in a state of emergency - and the child returns to the traditional public school academically disadvantaged.
I also have many friends who homeschool - again, a viable choice for some. I am more in favor of homeschooling than I am of charter schools, because at least then the reason for the decision is usually the genuine concern of parents, and not the get-rich-quick scheme of some of the "management companies" that open charter schools. Again, not all charter schools fall into this category - but there are those that do, and require careful monitoring to protect the kids. It's all about the kids.
For the record, my son tested at 141, I think...but he might have cheated. ;)
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