Gifted Students: Separating 'gifted' students makes energies misdirected

By MARA SAPON SHEVIN

Congressional Quarterly

If the question is really, "Should schools be devoting more resources to all students, making sure that every student has access to qualified teachers, adequate resources, excellent curricula and effective pedagogy?" then the answer would be a resounding "yes."

But if the question is, "Given our current insufficient resources, our lack of commitment to public education and the reality that many children in our nation do not receive even a minimally adequate education, should education of the gifted be our first priority?" then the answer must be "no."

Students identified as "gifted" have legitimate educational needs that should be met. But every child has the potential to learn and perform better given appropriate support and teaching; we have an entire nation of "underachieving gifted" students. All students deserve to be in classrooms in which their educational and social-emotional needs are met. All students are entitled to be part of learning communities that are safe, caring and supportive.

How will providing special services to students identified as "gifted" propel us to systematic, structural school reform? Won't concentrating our energies on "gifted" students actually pull our attention away from more general school reform by placating the vocal, vehement, often privileged parents of students identified as "gifted"?

Is our commitment to quality public education, or will we create privatized education within the public schools by funding segregated gifted programs and services?

The question at hand is not differentiation; the same bland, one-size-fits-all, lock-step, teacher-talk curriculum is not appropriate for "gifted children" or for anyone else. But let's make sure that curriculum differentiation is providing high-quality opportunities and options for all students.

Most of what is provided for students identified as "gifted" is simply good teaching: participatory, exploratory, child-centered, constructivist curricula and pedagogy provided by enthusiastic teachers in well-resourced classrooms.

Where is the research showing that only students identified as "gifted" profit from mentorships in the community, chances to engage in real science with working scientists, opportunities to participate in theater and music productions or be coached by community leaders?

How dare we as a nation engage in educational triage - deciding, a priori, which of our students "count" and which of them don't?

Let's act as if we really believed in high-quality, democratic, public schooling. Let's guarantee first-class educational nutrition for all these students, not peanut butter and Kool-Aid to the majority and haute cuisine to a precious few.

Mara Sapon Shevin is a professor of education at Syracuse University in New York.

Scripps Howard News Service