You People...

Yesterday, Alex, my mom and I picked up Rachel from Veterinarian Camp at Purdue. There was a "graduation" ceremony and the speaker was really interesting. Here's the gist of what she said:

"Purdue has been running it's GERI summer program now for 33 years, and it just keeps getting better and better. Programs like this are so important for kids like yours, given the state of education. Most of these kids are probably straight A students. Some maybe not - they're too bored. Those are my favorites - the ones too smart to conform. They go to school everyday, but are they really getting what they need? Mark Twain said "I never let schooling interfere with my education". Unfortunately, education today is a lot like filling a pail full of water and never using it. Eventually it either gets dumped out or stagnate. At GERI, we make sure it's not stagnate. Our classes give kids hands on opportunities to dive into their subject. There are no grades, because we want to encourage kids to soar, not worry about what kind of grade they will get. We want them to think of a million ways to do something. Benjamin Franklin said "I didn't fail the test, I just found a million ways to do it wrong." We think kids should be allowed to specialize in what they are interested. Whose purpose does the "well-rounded" student serve? If someone is brilliant in math, but still required to take 4 years of English, what purpose does that serve other then taking time away from what that student does best? We think kids should have the opportunity to learn in a way that is encouraging, fun and meaningful."

(There was more - her speech was 20 minutes. She mentioned things like 99% of Valedictorian's end up in middle management...)

At the end, I was like WOW! They really get it here at Purdue. I went and talked to her, thinking she might have some good resources for high school kids who have the luxury of not having to sit in class all day, learning information that stagnates. Here's the conversation.

Me: I really enjoyed your speech.
RM: (huge smile)
Me: I am currently homeschooling two high achieving kids
RM: (frown)
Me: (now hesitant) and was wondering if you have suggestions or resources, especially for high school students that will be applying to college...
RM: Well, you know they still need to take AP classes and all the tests and anyway that's not my area of specialty. Don't you people have all kinds of resources?

You people... Really? Someone that sounded so enlightened could only reach as far as offering a 1 week summer alternative to schooling as a solution to what she five minutes before called stagnate? Very closed minded. Alex called her hypocritical. Rachel said her speech was bull(onie!) I am not very enamored with Purdue. Maybe Ms. Mann needs a lesson from Ms. Goldson.

You deserve a break today....and everyday!!!

I found this article on how a lot of times school is so boring for "smart" kids, that they need a break. This was certainly the case for APD in his first year at middle school. He was sick so much, he missed at least 6 weeks. He would stay home, watch the history channel and ask "Can I just be homeschooled?" The only comment I have is - why are people so insistent that gifted kids should stay in school? There's just no point!

Giving Kids an Emotional and Mental Break - by Carol Bainbridge

Sometimes the stress of going to school every day gets to be too much for gifted kids. One could argue that school gets to be too much for all kids. What makes it so much worse for gifted kids?

Academic Stress

Gifted kids learn quickly. That means that they can pick up new concepts after one or two repetitions. Average children need ten to twelve repetitions. That means that gifted kids are sitting through anywhere from eight to eleven unnecessary repetitions. Even bright children need at least five repetitions, so even in a roomful of nothing but bright children, the gifted child will be sitting through some unnecessary repetitions.

However, being able to grasp concepts quickly is just part of the problem. Another part of the problem is that many gifted children start the school year, especially in the early grades already knowing a majority of the information that will be taught. That means that they don’t need any repetitions because they already know the material. For example, a five-year-old might enter kindergarten already knowing how to read, yet that child will have to sit in class and learn about the “letter of the day.” He or she will have to engage in all the activities that are supposed to help children learn the letters and the sounds they represent, activities meant to get students ready to learn to read.

Children who already know the material being taught or who pick new material up quickly can get bored (although parents should avoid using the word “bored” when ). Trying to sit still and pay attention under those circumstances can be quite stressful. While we might say that children should learn to be patient and to sit still, the reality is that few of us could sit still after hours of being bored. Some adults can’t tolerate being bored for two hours and will leave in the middle of a boring movie rather than sit through to the end. Yet many adults expect children to accept being bored not for two hours, but for sometimes up to six hours a day. And not just one day, but five days a week. And not just one week, but for the thirty-six weeks of the school year.

Giving Kids a Break FOR Learning

The lack of intellectual stimulation and challenge can take its toll on gifted kids. They can lose the motivation to learn. Parents often notice the sparkle in their child’s eyes begin to fade. These children with so much potential can become underachievers, and once a pattern of underachievement sets in, it is hard to reverse.

Perhaps worse than the effect on achievement, the lack of intellectual stimulation and challenge can affect gifted kids emotionally. They can become frustrated, angry and even depressed. They can suffer from psychosomatic illnesses, a common one being a stomach ache. For some parents getting their children ready for school in the morning can be a heartbreaking battle since parents know they are sending their children off for another day of monotony, while their children are crying and complaining of various physical ailments.

Under these circumstances, parents might consider giving their child a “Mental Health Day.” That is a day on which the child is allowed to stay home from school. These days should not be handed out lightly. That is, parents should not allow their child to stay home every time the child is feeling stress at school. All children get stressed in school. However, most parents of gifted kids recognize the moments when the stress gets to be too much and their children are beginning to suffer physically and emotionally, not just academically.

Mental Health Days are not days on which children escape from the pressures of learning. On the contrary. They are days on which gifted kids are given an opportunity to learn more. They don’t have to sit in a room waiting for the other kids to catch up. They can unfurl their wings and fly. Parents who want to give their child a Mental Health Day should be prepared to spend time with their child. It’s not a day for sitting idly in front of a television.

Instead, it is a day for visiting a museum or for going to the library. It is a day for working on projects near and dear to the child’s heart, projects that can’t be done in school. It is a day on which a child can explore a topic he or she is passionate about. If both parents work, parents should make plans in advance for a sitter who would be available during the day and who would be willing to take the child on trips or work with a child on projects.

Mental Health Days are not just for young children. I knew a high school girl who, in the early 1960’s, before computers made mass letter writing a simple process, was interested in learning about segregation and its effect on education. When she had the opportunity to stay home from school, she typed, on a typewriter, fifty letters to the education department of each state in the U.S. asking them about segregation in their schools.

Achievement vs. Ability

Achievement vs. Ability

Here's a good blog post I found. It's really good for APD, too. It means I'll quit making him do things over and over again when we learn history! Anyway, here's the part I found most interesting:

From research analysis by Karen Rogers, PhD and author of “Re-Forming Gifted Education”

-the learning rate of children above 130 IQ is approximately 8 times faster than for children below 70 IQ
-Gifted students are significantly more likely to retain science and mathematics content accurately when taught 2-3 times faster than “normal” class pace
-Gifted students are significantly more likely to forget or mislearn science and mathematics content when they must drill and review it more than 2-3 times
-Gifted students are decontextualists in their processing, rather than constructivists; therefore it is difficult to reconstruct “how” they came to an answer

A high I.Q. simply means that you process information differently, more quickly. In America we seek to educate everyone to the same level. The disastrous consequence of that is typically the slowing down of the pace in the classroom to meet the needs of lower ability students. The high ability child is left to languish. Democratization, indeed.

The Davidson Institute estimates that nearly 20 percent of all high school dropouts test in the gifted range. If we really want to improve achievement levels in this country then please, by all means, go about the task. Start with encouraging students to be successful and smart, build upon their strengths, introduce new and relevant role models, give as much effort to their academic education as you do to their athletic training. If you want to improve the number of high I.Q. students and their opportunities for success – do a better job of identifying them (a mandated national ability test would do nicely) and then serve their needs for a faster paced curriculum so they can remain engaged in school and have an opportunity to fulfill their potential.