I started to hate school when I was in first grade. Coincidentally, first grade was also when I was tested for the gifted program. My school, which was K-2, obviously didn’t have very many gifted students (I think most of them were tested around third grade), so the gifted “teacher” was rarely around. My routine hardly changed, but the biggest change was that I was finally told that I was smart. My parents say that was when I truly realized that other people were not smart, and that was what made me lose my passion; I think it was more that I was bored in class. However, I definitely believe that my diagnosis as a “gifted kid” changed my life and gave me a new perspective on myself and the education system.
There is no shortage of discourse on the effectiveness of gifted programs, and they have several indisputable flaws. Typical criticisms involve the so-called “gifted kid burnout”, egocentrism, ineffectiveness, and racial inequality/underrepresentation of minority groups. I noticed each of these factors and more, but it is also important to note that everybody has a different experience. Some students flaunted their giftedness, bringing up test results and other achievements at every opportunity (with one student even putting their IQ in their Instagram bio), others distanced themselves from it as much as possible, and others remained somewhere in the middle, constantly downplaying their achievements (even when they easily surpassed those of the entire student body).Â
My experience was both positive and negative. In elementary school, I was deeply unsatisfied with my gifted teacher, and I wasn’t the only one; reflecting on it later, one thing we all agreed on was that we all learned what stress felt like. In middle school, the gifted program schedule was irregular and significantly limited our time in the program. I can’t say that anything I did in gifted before high school, besides the Duke TIP Program (which provided young gifted students with certain opportunities such as taking the ACT early or enrolling in online language classes), Hubbard math tournaments, and maybe some bonding activities with other gifted students, really benefited me in the long run.
In high school, the gifted program was offered as an elective called QUEST. I took it for a few semesters, and it was much more individualized than any other class I had taken before. I don’t feel that I took advantage of it well enough, but it was much more positive than my prior experiences. During senior year, my new school didn’t have a gifted program, but I don’t think it would’ve made much of a difference for me at that point, anyway.
One problem with the gifted program as a whole is that its testing process is very inconsistent. I remember nothing about my test, but I do know that whatever I did was probably different from a lot of other school districts. Additionally, different schools have different standards for their gifted programs, so students could be considered “gifted” at one school but not at another. Some districts retest gifted transfer students, and others don’t (even when they probably should). The nomination process is also quite arbitrary and can lead to some students being overlooked (particularly black students and students of color) and others being falsely recommended. Considering the number and proportion of gifted students in my class, I have an inkling that my school had a lower standard than others. I am an avid supporter of individualized education plans (IEP), so I believe that all of those students deserved an IEP, but I also think that the IEP system should be reevaluated (ideally with additional funding and/or staffing for support).
I wouldn’t say that I feel particularly strongly about this belief, but part of me thinks that temporarily separating the gifted or advanced students and returning them to their usual environments is a bad idea. I think it is possible for some gifted programs to emphasize academic achievements at the price of social development. I favor a system of subject learning groups that are organized by skill level, like the special reading and math groups that many of us participated in. That way, students have more personalized educational opportunities at every level, and since all students participate at the same time, there is no isolation of a small group of students from the rest.Â
It is important to note that being a “gifted kid” is not monolithic, and nearly everyone has a different experience with gifted students and programs. This account is simply a description and review of my own personal experience. I am not sure what constitutes the ideal gifted program, but what I do know is that there is still a lot to learn and develop.