The private school public school teacher debate...

[OhSoVeryLadylike]

This is not the same thing but it got me thinking about certain public school programs. For instance the Gifted and Talented program in my neck of the woods. I don't know what it is called in other states. But, from second grade through six grade I attended school with in a school the gifted and talented program was centered in the "Basement" of a large elementary school in my parish. We never mingled with the other students, we didn't eat lunch with them, have recess with them. We didn't attend their programs or awards ceremony. It was like we were quarintined. Then when I enterd the eighth grade, we still only had classes with each other, but during the lunch period and if you were involved in a extra curricular activity you saw other students. But I didn't really know to interact with them. It was a long time before I felt completely comfortable around people I had been around for half my life. And it didn't help that my program was 95% white.
After all this rambling, I guess my question is what do you think about those type of "private" public school programs? Do any other have any experiences like this?

[Honeykiss1974]

Growing up too I was also in the public school "gifted" program until 7th grade (it ended in junior high). Our program was intergrated into your daily schedule. I remember spending about 2 days out of the week in the "gifted" program and then the other days in our regular classroom. It was no big deal growing up because every grade was divided up into sections anyway. Like you had the A,B, C, and D sections which were all based on your learning abilities and levels. Plus, you had the opportunity to "test out" and move up (or down) the next level I think every year or semester. With that said, most of my friends that were in the gifted program was also in my regular class. Plus my gifted program was about 60% black anyway.

[AKA2D '91]

Girl,

My mother taught GT. I wonder what parish are you referring to? You're talking about LA, cause we're the only state in the union that uses parishes...lol Anyway, she always said it was a form of SEGREGATION. Of all the students she had, she may have had 5 blacks out of 80. Many of the parents hired a psychologist to give them a order that says that their child is gifted. If there is a private order, that supercedes the order of the evaluation a school district may give, even if the evaluation given by the school district said otherwise . Many of "our" students could be gifted, but many lack the resources or the knowledge to persue that avenue. That could be another reason our kids have behavior problems, because the work is too easy, as opposed to saying that the kid is dumb, stupid, or can't read. Remember that episode of A Different World where there was a kid Whitley or Dwayne mentored or something and they found out that girl was "gifted in a way" because she was able to rewire some gadgets like the phone, the doorbell, etc?

I'm because her students ate with everyone and had their break time with everyone, but they all had the same courses with the GT teachers.

Yet, here in my school district, the GT program is different. Where when my mother taught it, the students had basically all academic courses, but on a hight plane. Here, the students have a certain area where they excell, maybe arts (music, drawing, etc) not strictly academics.

[Steeltrap]

In California, I tested into the gifted program after the first grade. This was in 1971, a few years before Prop. 13 was passed, which cut taxes and allowed my parents to keep their house, but destroyed public education in California, IMO.

My mentally gifted minor classes in elementary school were fairly diverse. You had black, white, Latino and Asian kids. Among other things, we had television production classes. During junior high (1976-79) and senior high (1979-82), things changed markedly from a racial standpoint.

I was a voluntary busing participant, as were other black and Latino students, but there were virtually no black kids participating in gifted education. Our honors English program had only three black kids, period, and this was a decent-size high school.

As for reasons why black kids may not be in gifted programs, other posters have hit on reasons in this thread and the teacher-related thread, particularly corrosive anti-intellectual and anti-education peer pressure.

Kids learn a lot from others and the media, and it certainly doesn't help when a smart black kid is being portrayed as a dork on TV.

[straightBOS]

Originally posted by OhSoVeryLadylike

After all this rambling, I guess my question is what do you think about those type of "private" public school programs? Do any other have any experiences like this?

I was also in such a program. We also sent absolutely no time with the "regular classes". In fact, the entire program had its own separate wing.

As a result we had formed some sort of inferiority/superiority complex. We definitely knew we had them beat intellectually by miles, but they were so much bigger and taller and in some cases older than we were. We avoided them before and after school (the only time we saw them) and some people who lived closer to the school walked instead of riding the "dumb bus."
(Maybe I was one of those people but I won't admit to that...)

I think these programs were great for our mental development because all of us ended up attending the prestige "exam high schools", we had instruction in French and Spanish, and we were the ones who were dragged out anytime the superintendent, mayor, or governor came to visit.

They are harmful because they can create isolation, and can give you a "warped view" of your reality. Of course, high school exposed me to all types of people, but I feel that I had my head in the clouds for too long.

Also, the "non-gifted" missed out on great programs that were only available to us. I couldn't tell you what they did when we went to French class in first grade, but I doubt it helped prepare them for anything, and that, is unfair.