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Number of wtf questions: "putting a huge amount of effort into such a program is a huge waste of time that is better spent on startups." what startups would t

Number of wtf questions: "putting a huge amount of effort into such a program is a huge waste of time that is better spent on startups." what startups would those be? tech startups? how about the gift kids who couldn't care less about tech? maybe they just want to become authors? who knows. startups? "Moreover, such programs increase the probability that you would pursue a career in academia, which generally leads to failure for the vast majority of people." define failure. failure to get into academia? misery at getting into academia? "Even picking a university major is an issue when certain fields such as mathematics are considered more respectable than others such as CS in such programs." what does a university major have to do with a gifted program in a high school? "Finally, the possibility of not even going to university is certainly not encouraged in such programs." other than vocational tech programs, where exactly is not going to university encouraged? -- how about this, lets say you take away they gifted and talented program and put them back in standard college prep course work. how many did you think will get bored beyond belief by not being challenged? how well are they going to do? shouldn't you teach to level of each individual student rather than as a faceless homogenous mass?

amichail 17y ago
what startups would those be? tech startups? how about the gift kids who couldn't care less about tech? maybe they just want to become authors? who knows. startups? They can write novels. It's hard to do that while competing with bright peers in a gifted program. define failure. failure to get into academia? misery at getting into academia? Not enjoying grad school. Getting a job at a mostly teaching college afterward. Teaching uninteresting courses. Teaching the same courses over and over again. Not having much time to do research. Getting your grant proposals/papers rejected. Not finding bright students to do research with. what does a university major have to do with a gifted program in a high school? If your teachers in a gifted program look down on computing as a career, that certainly isn't encouraging. other than vocational tech programs, where exactly is not going to university encouraged? Gifted students are expected to get into top universities. The pressure to pursue a university education is very strong in a gifted program.
- spooneybarger 17y ago
  wow, still more wtf comments. ok. i think i can sum up most of these as: you are saying that life is hard and you should limit the choices available to people. if you don't reach for anything you can't be disappointed. or do you think only the 'gifted' sometimes find that what they want wasn't all they thought it would be? this is a good one: "If your teachers in a gifted program look down on computing as a career, that certainly isn't encouraging."\ how about this: If you teacher looks down on your desired course of life, that could be discouraging. The teacher being in a 'gifted program' doesn't really have any bearing unless 'gifted' students are weak and fragile and will collapse under the weight of having to follow some preordained path that they simply were unable to deviate from.
amichail 17y ago
how about this, lets say you take away they gifted and talented program and put them back in standard college prep course work. how many did you think will get bored beyond belief by not being challenged? how well are they going to do? shouldn't you teach to level of each individual student rather than as a faceless homogenous mass? High school education -- gifted or not -- is mostly a waste of time. It's better to limit it as much as possible and encourage students to try to make money on their own.
- timwiseman 17y ago
  High school education -- gifted or not -- is mostly a waste of time.... This depends on the high school and how the student approaches it. If a student just tries to get through it, then they will with little effort and 0 learning. If on the other hand, they put some effort in, they really can learn something from some of those classes, especially if they take AP classes. More importantly, if they really put in effort into some of the semi-optional projects they can do something really interesting. Some high schoolers have done very impressive senior projects. I do think that a smart person will spend considerable time on learning outside of school though, I certainly wish I had done a lot more of that.

amichail 17y ago

what startups would those be? tech startups? how about the gift kids who couldn't care less about tech? maybe they just want to become authors? who knows. startups? They can write novels. It's hard to do that while competing with bright peers in a gifted program. define failure. failure to get into academia? misery at getting into academia? Not enjoying grad school. Getting a job at a mostly teaching college afterward. Teaching uninteresting courses. Teaching the same courses over and over again. Not having much time to do research. Getting your grant proposals/papers rejected. Not finding bright students to do research with. what does a university major have to do with a gifted program in a high school? If your teachers in a gifted program look down on computing as a career, that certainly isn't encouraging. other than vocational tech programs, where exactly is not going to university encouraged? Gifted students are expected to get into top universities. The pressure to pursue a university education is very strong in a gifted program.

spooneybarger 17y ago
wow, still more wtf comments. ok. i think i can sum up most of these as: you are saying that life is hard and you should limit the choices available to people. if you don't reach for anything you can't be disappointed. or do you think only the 'gifted' sometimes find that what they want wasn't all they thought it would be? this is a good one: "If your teachers in a gifted program look down on computing as a career, that certainly isn't encouraging."\ how about this: If you teacher looks down on your desired course of life, that could be discouraging. The teacher being in a 'gifted program' doesn't really have any bearing unless 'gifted' students are weak and fragile and will collapse under the weight of having to follow some preordained path that they simply were unable to deviate from.

amichail 17y ago

how about this, lets say you take away they gifted and talented program and put them back in standard college prep course work. how many did you think will get bored beyond belief by not being challenged? how well are they going to do? shouldn't you teach to level of each individual student rather than as a faceless homogenous mass? High school education -- gifted or not -- is mostly a waste of time. It's better to limit it as much as possible and encourage students to try to make money on their own.

timwiseman 17y ago
High school education -- gifted or not -- is mostly a waste of time.... This depends on the high school and how the student approaches it. If a student just tries to get through it, then they will with little effort and 0 learning. If on the other hand, they put some effort in, they really can learn something from some of those classes, especially if they take AP classes. More importantly, if they really put in effort into some of the semi-optional projects they can do something really interesting. Some high schoolers have done very impressive senior projects. I do think that a smart person will spend considerable time on learning outside of school though, I certainly wish I had done a lot more of that.