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We need to be doing something for these kids. I know when I was in school I was incredibly bored and underwhelmed. I'd typically understand a concept pretty qui

We need to be doing something for these kids. I know when I was in school I was incredibly bored and underwhelmed. I'd typically understand a concept pretty quickly when it was introduced, and then have nothing to do while the teacher had to explain it a million times for the next several days, and I'd finish my tests and work much more quickly than most, too. I dunno if I was necessarily one of the brightest minds out there, but school did always come easy to me. So, I'd do other things when I didn't need to pay attention. When I was really little, I'd act out. Doctors tried to tell my parents I had ADD and prescribe drugs -- fortunately my parents knew better (my dad had the same issues when he was a kid). Later, I actually found a healthy outlet -- I brought a sketchpad to school and drew pictures when I wasn't learning anything. Still, the teachers got upset and eventually took that away. I feel like it would've been a lot more beneficial to me if there had been some alternative. Or, at least, if I hadn't constantly got in trouble for what essentially amounts to being bored.

ssdfsdf 12y ago
We don't need to do anything for these kids. They have the internet now, that is all that is needed.
- barry-cotter 12y ago
  Charitably assuming that was sarcasm, no that is not all that is needed. Boring the crap out of children and teaching them that no one cares what they want and that people with authority can shit all over them with impunity may be good preparation for adult life but one can in fact do better. Even working under the constraint that there must be a place for parents to park their children while they go work one can do a lot better. Montessori and Sudbury/Democratic schools do not work on the sit down shut up and do as you're told model and they do very well. And if we're going to do the sit down, shut up and do as you're told model why can't we at least use the best method for it, Direct Instruction?
  - ssdfsdf 12y ago
    It's not sarcasm. There is nothing you can do for them that will be better than allowing them the free time to learn at their own pace from the internet. A highly gifted or profoundly gifted child does not need education in the traditional sense, they need emotional support. The intellectual support the average teacher is going to be able to provide will very frequently be inadequate. It was suggested I go to a democratic school, but I declined. Such a thing would have been good for me,but what would have been better: Just let me get on with learning about the world with a group of my peers.
    - mcdougle 12y ago
      I think I understand what you're saying. Allowing them to learn at their own pace would still be doing something, though. In school, whenever a new concept was introduced, I often found that I understood it pretty quickly, but that we'd spend days on the topic while several other students in class struggled to grasp it. During that time, I was expected to sit there and pay attention -- even though it was a waste of time. Even creative outlets, like drawing, were not allowed. If I could have used that time to learn something new on my own, through the Internet or whatever else, that would have been a lot better than just sitting there. Even just letting the students who understand the topic out to play or something until the next topic is introduced would be better and more productive than just having them sit there. Once I got to college it got a lot better -- I was able to skip classes that I knew would be a waste of time and do more productive things, or bring a laptop to class and do something else when the professor was explaining something I already understood. But prior to college I didn't own a laptop -- not that it would have been allowed even if I did!
    - barry-cotter 12y ago
      From my perspective we are either in agreement or nitpicking then. Ideally children would be free to do their own thing subject to the constraint that that thing not be unsafe to no good purpose. Where would you have found peers outside of a school environment? Given the normal school system is 0 and unschooling is 10 where would you place democratic schools? I presume unschooling is a good approximation to your ideal.
- Rusky 12y ago
  The internet doesn't help them getting bored out of their minds in class and giving up on school. School needs to let students go at the pace they're capable of, or why are they even there?

ssdfsdf 12y ago

We don't need to do anything for these kids. They have the internet now, that is all that is needed.

barry-cotter 12y ago
Charitably assuming that was sarcasm, no that is not all that is needed. Boring the crap out of children and teaching them that no one cares what they want and that people with authority can shit all over them with impunity may be good preparation for adult life but one can in fact do better. Even working under the constraint that there must be a place for parents to park their children while they go work one can do a lot better. Montessori and Sudbury/Democratic schools do not work on the sit down shut up and do as you're told model and they do very well. And if we're going to do the sit down, shut up and do as you're told model why can't we at least use the best method for it, Direct Instruction?
- ssdfsdf 12y ago
  It's not sarcasm. There is nothing you can do for them that will be better than allowing them the free time to learn at their own pace from the internet. A highly gifted or profoundly gifted child does not need education in the traditional sense, they need emotional support. The intellectual support the average teacher is going to be able to provide will very frequently be inadequate. It was suggested I go to a democratic school, but I declined. Such a thing would have been good for me,but what would have been better: Just let me get on with learning about the world with a group of my peers.
  - mcdougle 12y ago
    I think I understand what you're saying. Allowing them to learn at their own pace would still be doing something, though. In school, whenever a new concept was introduced, I often found that I understood it pretty quickly, but that we'd spend days on the topic while several other students in class struggled to grasp it. During that time, I was expected to sit there and pay attention -- even though it was a waste of time. Even creative outlets, like drawing, were not allowed. If I could have used that time to learn something new on my own, through the Internet or whatever else, that would have been a lot better than just sitting there. Even just letting the students who understand the topic out to play or something until the next topic is introduced would be better and more productive than just having them sit there. Once I got to college it got a lot better -- I was able to skip classes that I knew would be a waste of time and do more productive things, or bring a laptop to class and do something else when the professor was explaining something I already understood. But prior to college I didn't own a laptop -- not that it would have been allowed even if I did!
  - barry-cotter 12y ago
    From my perspective we are either in agreement or nitpicking then. Ideally children would be free to do their own thing subject to the constraint that that thing not be unsafe to no good purpose. Where would you have found peers outside of a school environment? Given the normal school system is 0 and unschooling is 10 where would you place democratic schools? I presume unschooling is a good approximation to your ideal.
Rusky 12y ago
The internet doesn't help them getting bored out of their minds in class and giving up on school. School needs to let students go at the pace they're capable of, or why are they even there?