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Advantages and disadvantages of gifted education
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Recently, a major debate between education boards nationwide has been receiving a lot of attention because of the impact it could potentially have on our current system of education. The debate centers around the issue of segregated versus integrated classrooms and whether or not separate classes for gifted students are necessary to be implement in schools across America. Typically, in integrated classrooms students who are classified as “gifted” will be working in and among the “average” students, meaning those who are receiving the proper level of education based on their abilities and maturity. Many parents and organizations have come forward against this classroom format, arguing that the gifted children are not able to reach their full potential when taught the curriculum designed for the average student. They believe these students should be separated from their peers and placed into gifted classes where they are taught in a way that allows the students to make the best of their abilities. However, a change like this requires an increase in staff, hours, and funding for schools nationwide and with education suffering large budget cuts across America, this request is seemingly impossible to grant. Completely separate classrooms are unlikely to be funded but gifted students can still receive the education they require with far less cost to the school by having one specialized gifted teacher per school that the children spend a portion of their day with to satisfy their need for mental stimulation that is beyond what they are getting in their current classrooms.
The main force behind the push for completely segregated classrooms are organizations like the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) whose main goal is...
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While differentiating instruction and being able to design lessons geared towards the needs of diverse learners are currently highly prized skills for teachers, this has not always been the case. The history of education in the United States is a history of segregation. Even today, schools and curriculum are designed to meet the needs of a core group of students, which does not include students with disabilities (Hitchcock, Meyer, Rose, & Jackson, 2002). In the past, learners who were different, out of the mainstream, or did not fit into the mold to which teachers taught (were not part of the core) learned how or lost out on learning. This is not to say that teachers of the past did not care about their students, about being effective teachers, or about student learning. However, as schools are mirrors reflecting mainstream societal norms (Chartock, 2010; Delpit, 2006)—and, given that our society has not always valued diversity in people, be it due to disability, class, culture, or race—teachers in the past have largely focused their efforts where they could earn the largest return on their investment: the average student .
Board of Education outlawed educational segregation, the Illinois School District had created a completely different gifted program for Hispanic students, separate from the White students’ gifted program. Ford found that in 2009 and 2001, the RDCI (The Relative Difference in Composition Index) researched and concluded “at least one half million African American and Hispanic students combined are not identified as gifted” (Ford 145). While African American Students are rising to be the majority race in public education, the percentage of African Americans even being recognized as gifted or academically accelerated, is not proportionally increasing (Ford). Society hold precedents with people who have superior intelligence over those who do not, but how can superiority even be concluded when all people are not given the opportunity to have an enriching education? African Americans are not able to increase their percentage of gifted students because African American students are not given the chance to be even recognized as worthy or capable of such achievements. As society advances further academically and leaves African Americans with an unquail education, the percentage of African Americans attending college and entering professional careers
Gifted and talented programs are intrinsically valuable to many children’s education as they provide a system in which all students involved are engaged, challenged, and intellectually stimulated. In "How People Learn", Donovan, Bransford, and Pellegrino (1999) stress the importance of each student being given reasonable and appropriate goals based on his or her level of understanding and competency (p. 20). Gifted and talented programs help institutionalize the attempt to meet all student’s needs by providing uniquely appropriate challenges which aim to keep every student engaged, thus receiving the best chance at success. Although there are many valuable and important aspects of gifted education, there are also significant issues rooted in the base of America’s gifted and talented programs, one of which I will address throughout this paper. In my opinion, the most notable problem which troubles gifted and talented programs is the system by which students are selected to join their school’s gifted and talented program.
Today, Americans may not recognize the substantial impact of integration, or at least at times, I don’t. In this way, racism and segregation are combatted. However, some people may still believe in segregation. The importance of integrating children’s education systems was, and still is, pivotal in combatting racism because in school, all children are equal regardless of personal beliefs.
A longstanding national issue that continues to concern the public is the disproportionate representation of children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in special education. The fact is that the proportion of minority students in the population of school-age children has risen dramatically to over 35%, which is increasing the diversity of students in many public schools throughout the nation. This makes the phenomenon of disproportionality especially troubling. With a growing population of minority children comprising a greater percentage of public school students, we must be responsive to the growing needs of an increasingly diverse society. The overrepresentation of minority students in special education has been posed as an issue for more than 3 decades, but it is worth asking whether the efforts of legislative actions, educational reforms and legal challenges have really made improvements to this issue. More importantly, disproportionality should be examined as a correlation to underlying conditions that can pose a great effect upon not only the quality of a child’s education, but also ______.
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Donovan, M. Suzanne and Christopher T. Cross (2002, August). Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/lib/drexel/-docDetail.action?docID=10032383.
The education system is arguably the most beneficial system in the world; however, it also contains many controversial practices. Proper funding, discrimination, and curriculum are just some of the problems in today’s education system. Everyone has a different opinion about what is best for our children and it is impossible to please everyone. As long as the educational system is in tact, then there will be confusion and debate within the system and its’ administrators. The only thing that can be done is attempting to make it so that everyone will benefit equally, but this is much more difficult than one would assume. I will focus on the aspect of discrimination on minorities within special education and more specifically the following questions: Does the special education system discriminate against minorities? If so, how? What can be done, if anything, to correct or improve this system?
Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved April 19, 2019. From: https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUSOC120.10.2.
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In modern times, special education refers to individualized instruction provided by school districts that fit the needs of a student’s exceptionality (Turnbull, Turnbull, Wehmeyer & Shogren, 2013). Special education is a rewarding field that encompasses the success of all learners with exceptionalities. Consequently, professionals in this discipline have to exhibit characteristics such as patience, ardor, and empathy. These individuals also have to be “self-aware culturally,” and by meeting that idea, they have to “become aware of [their] stereotypes, biases, and prejudices” (Turnbull et al., 2013, p. 74).
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American education research Association, San Francisco, CA.
Author unkown (2003, March 9). In gifted classrooms is diversity lacking?. Salisbury Daily Times. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://www.dailytimesonline.com/new/stories/20030309/localnews/1142640.html
Our education system allegedly provides an equal opportunity to all members of society to reach their potential. The research by Richer, particularly in elementary school, leads us to believe that this is not essentially the case. Our school system has a “hidden curriculum” that produces an inequality between the middle and lower class as well as men and woman. When a child enters a school environment they are required to adhere to a set of values proposed by the teacher and classroom environment. This school environment is competitive, teachers r...
Parke, B. (n.d.). Challenging gifted students in the regular classroom. Retrieved March 1, 2004, from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/Challenging_gifted _kids.html