“These schools to be under a visitor, who is annually to chuse the boy, of best genius in the school, of those whose parents are too poor to give them further education, and to send him forward to one of the grammar schools, of which twenty are proposed to be erected in different parts of the country, for teaching Greek, Latin, geography, and the higher branches of numerical arithmetic. Of the boys thus sent in any one year, trial is to be made at the grammar schools one or two years, and the best genius of the whole selected, and continued six years, and the residue dismissed. By this means twenty of the best geniusses will be raked from the rubbish annually, and be instructed, at the public expence, so far as the grammar schools go.” Those are the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, excerpted from Notes on the State of Virginia.
Jefferson, it seems, was cognizant that “genius,” as he called it, must be cultivated and developed. Furthermore, he asserts, that talent is something “nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich …”
These words and ideals, expressed by a founding father, oh, so long ago, form the crux of the ideas embodied in the law of the land, as it pertains to gifted and talented education. Section § 8-202, of the relevant section of Maryland law unequivocally states, “Gifted and talented students are to be found in youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor. ”
The perceived failure of gifted and talented education to equally identify “genius” from “youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor,” is not a rationale for dismembering gifted and talented education. Instead, it should gird us with the determination to do it right.
It is a national shame that we have embarked on a voyage of dismantling the vestiges of a challenging education and replacing it with a soufflé of little substance. In Montgomery County, Maryland, the exercise has taken the form of replacing middle school honors courses with courses that fail to meet their stated goals.
For example, Honors Earth Space Systems A/B Grade 8, has been replaced with Investigations in Earth Space Science (IESS). According to a memorandum issued by the then superintendent Jerry D. Weast, “As part of the Middle School Reform initiative, OCIP staff members have redesigned the middle school science curriculum to create two courses, Investigations in Science 6 and Investigations in Science 7, which lead to Earth Space Systems in Grade 8.” He goes on to assert, “The courses integrate STEM concepts, technology, research, innovation, and multiple solutions. Students generate questions and develop plans for solving problems and evaluating solutions. They record their findings in design-folios and science journals. Classes analyze progress toward possible solutions throughout each unit and students have multiple opportunities for reflection and revision.” At least in one school, in a co-taught IESS class, teachers don’t seem to have the time to accomplish these objectives
It is time to change course.
(c) 2012, Kumar Singam. If you would like to receive email notifications of columns by the DC-Gifted-Examiner please use the “subscribe” button at the top of this article to sign up.
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