3 ms·

They'd do fine, because for the most part, the students who were placed in TAG math were the same students whose parents were on PTA or whose parents had the ti

by kahnjw 9y ago

They'd do fine, because for the most part, the students who were placed in TAG math were the same students whose parents were on PTA or whose parents had the time and self entitlement to go to the school and not so politely request their child be placed in the program. The notion that gifted students need a special environment to learn is comical. If they're actually talented and gifted, they should certainly be able to learn effectively in the same environment as "normal" students. Learning to read and do arithmetic is important in the 3rd grade, but it isn't as important as learning social and communication skills. I don't deny that there are gifted individuals among us, I'm advocating that we wait on trying to identify the gifted ones at least until puberty.

nopinsight 9y ago
If you look at the biographies of the most esteemed scientists and mathematicians who contributed much to humanity's knowledge, many if not most of them had a chance to get special education, either through mentorship or gifted programs since they were in primary school or younger. The cases of Terence Tao, John von Neumann, and Albert Einstein are some that I know of for certain. Another data point from a personal perspective: I was fairly gifted (though far less than the names I mentioned) and came up with the idea of limits in math on my own when I was 9 years old. I never got any proper mentorship and the development of my math skills and intuition was held back by the boring classroom materials and routine homework I needed to attend/finish. I did not have access to or even aware of any advanced materials I could learn from, and thus wasted several of the best years to develop those math skills and intuition.
Viliam1234 9y ago
> The notion that gifted students need a special environment to learn is comical. They may need a special environment to be allowed to excel in learning without getting bullied.
- jschwartzi 9y ago
  Which is what I was getting at, that intelligence and giftedness can function as a handicap in a lot of situations.

by kahnjw 9y ago

nopinsight 9y ago

If you look at the biographies of the most esteemed scientists and mathematicians who contributed much to humanity's knowledge, many if not most of them had a chance to get special education, either through mentorship or gifted programs since they were in primary school or younger. The cases of Terence Tao, John von Neumann, and Albert Einstein are some that I know of for certain. Another data point from a personal perspective: I was fairly gifted (though far less than the names I mentioned) and came up with the idea of limits in math on my own when I was 9 years old. I never got any proper mentorship and the development of my math skills and intuition was held back by the boring classroom materials and routine homework I needed to attend/finish. I did not have access to or even aware of any advanced materials I could learn from, and thus wasted several of the best years to develop those math skills and intuition.

Viliam1234 9y ago

> The notion that gifted students need a special environment to learn is comical. They may need a special environment to be allowed to excel in learning without getting bullied.

jschwartzi 9y ago
Which is what I was getting at, that intelligence and giftedness can function as a handicap in a lot of situations.