The failure of the US educational system to properly deal with gifted students

[mandy]

Any sensible culture would know what to do with Annalisee Brasil. The 14-year-old not only has the looks of a South American model but is also one of the brightest kids of her generation. When Annalisee was 3, her mother Angi Brasil noticed that she was stringing together word cards composed not simply into short phrases but into complete, grammatically correct sentences. After the girl turned 6, her mother took her for an IQ test. Annalisee found the exercises so easy that she played jokes on the testers--in one case she not only put blocks in the correct order but did it backward too. Angi doesn't want her daughter's IQ published, but it is comfortably above 145, placing the girl in the top 0.1% of the population. Annalisee is also a gifted singer: last year, although just 13, she won a regional high school competition conducted by the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Annalisee should be the star pupil at a school in her hometown of Longview, Texas...

full article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articl...53,00.html

[BellisimaJ.]

This topic really sets me off, because it has affected family members, and others that I know. Back later to rant. 

[Kristijntje]

Hide this topic from Todd and Regi  ;D

[BellisimaJ.]

I am not going to rant-----it would require me to relate too much personal info which, considering my personal situation, would be unwise. Suffice it to say that the public schools are throwing away the opportunity to truly educate the smartest kids with their outdated policies, unwillingness to change, and refusal to deal with this issue in any meaningful way >
Even Boston Latin, a juried public high school and considered one of the best public high schools in the country, does not deal with this issue in a manner that ensures that the best and brightest are well and  appropriately educated.
And one of the worst things that our current system perpetuates is BOREDOM  in these kids, leading to a lack of interest in school (NOT a lack of interest in learning). Many of these kids never reach their full potential, and this is a disservice to our culture, our country, etc.. What a friggin' travesty!

Well, okay, it was a small rant....

[quote author=Kristijntje link=topic=16001.msg63988#msg63988 date=1187450630]
Hide this topic from Todd and Regi  ;D
[/quote]