[Ohiogift] Forget the Gifted

[Mary Collier]

I have always thought "mastery-based " education should be the way schools should be set up.  It seems common-sense to me (I am not an educator) and that it should be easier with technology.  The problem is inertia in the system.  It seems schools are still stuck in the hundred year old plus practice of grouping children by age, with some exceptions here and there, and dishing out the same lesson plan no matter the student's skill set.  Unfortunately, some other institutions seem to work that way also, including health and medical.  The health and medical seems to be trying to finally pay some more attention to individual genetics, but they should have been using that information a long time ago to be more functional and helpful.  I do not think treating individuals differently should be threatening to individuals - especially when the goal is to help individuals do their best while recognizing we are all individuals.  We all can contribute in our own way.  What is elitist about that?  The book "Chalice and the Blade" points out that societies emphasizing function and cooperation thrived over those emphasizing competition and hierarchy - that is until the thundering hordes brutally wiped them out.  So we also have to protect the group from the thundering, competitive hordes.

Mary Collier




-----Original Message-----
From: Will Fitzhugh via Ohiogift <ohiogift at lists.osu.edu>
To: Art Snyder via Ohiogift <ohiogift at lists.osu.edu>
Sent: Mon, Feb 5, 2018 9:32 am
Subject: [Ohiogift] Forget the Gifted






Gifted Students Are Unnecessarily Sacrificed
By Walt Gardner on February 5, 2018 7:36 AM 


In an attempt to help underperforming students, public school teachers are shortchanging their gifted classmates ("A Better Way to Teach the Gifted - and Everyone Else," The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 17).  Only in the U.S. are the gifted treated so poorly. 
I've long believed that tracking is essential to correct the problem.  But it is seen as elitist.  That's why I think that "mastery-based education" has a better chance of gaining support.  It allows students to progress to ever-increasing more difficult material once they demonstrate their proficiency.  As a result, a classroom could theoretically have each student working on different skills. 
The strategy would be in step with personalizing instruction.  It would allow the gifted to be engaged to a degree that only few schools can claim.  I taught several mixed classes, where a few gifted students were bored to death.  I tried to help them by giving them special projects that required essentially independent study. We agreed on a particular assignment.  But after that, they were on their own for the most part.  I never felt the approach was as good as a class composed entirely of gifted students.
Unfortunately, it's unlikely that the gifted will be accorded the attention they deserve.  I say that because differentiation in education in the U.S. is considered anathema to democratization. 



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