Giftedness and Education

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Recommended: A suggested teaching model for gifted students

Gifted learning is a highly controversial topic in the world of education. Some people believe that having a separate class for “gifted” students allows for more growth and learning to take pace; contrary to that belief, there are some people who believe that segregating public class rooms this way hinders learning, and creates class rooms that are not eclectic and that do not allow peer to peer learning. Learning is a highly individual subject and every student learns differently. If the education system in the United States is to change their test scores, they will move away from the philosophy of integration and inclusion and towards an educational philosophy of creating an IEP for each student, and keep class sizes as small as possible with children that learn similarly. This paper will attempt to explore the facts and professional opinions about the integration or segregation of public schools by ability level, and prove that more individual teaching will lead to improved learning.
Inclusion is often talked about in the realm of special education and learning disabilities. Inclusion can be successful in these situations, sometimes, but more recently policy makers are putting gifted students into the discussion of inclusion. The same way the regular education students can help the special education students, it is believed that the gifted students can help the regular education students learn, and this will help them master the content as well. I believe this would be detrimental to the education of the “gifted” students. In my own experience, the opportunity to be a part of “gifted” classes has helped me to excel in school. If I had been unable to be put into the more fast pace and more difficult track at my high school, ...

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...the politics behind it, and the ethics behind it. In doing so I believe that it has proved the need for the separation of classrooms based more solely on ability level, and giftedness. It provides a deeper learning environment and allows more growth for the student. The integration of schools through inclusion will result in a detrimental ceiling over the gifted student, through which they will be unable to rise above said ceiling and explore and reach their goals and potential.

Gifted education works. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=566
Kronholz , J. (2011). Challenging the gifted. Retrieved from http://educationnext.org/challenging-the-gifted/
Subotnik. (n.d.). Rethinking giftedness and gifted education:. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ed/schools/gifted/rethinking-giftedness.pdf
Taibbi. (2011). Giftedness and classroom boredom.

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