(no subject)

[highlyeccentric]

Intersting article today about selective schooling- Tovey makes the point that while parents and teachers complain about selective schooling drawing away the best and brightest from the local high schools, for many a gifted child selective schools provide opportunities to learn at a decent pace, and an escape from intelligence-centred bullying.
She notes the downsides, particularly that a bright child surrounded by the brilliant can end up underestimating their own abilities. I'm quite sure I wouldn't've enjoyed selective high school, had not messed up and handed my application in late, for just that reason (though it might've brought me down a few worthwhile pegs).

She points out that regular schools just don't cater to gifted and talented students, which is true. But then she throws in this line:

Gifted children will probably achieve great things, no matter what school they go to, and it's imperative that students who are struggling to keep their heads above water are given the most attention in public debate.

That's exactly the kind of thinking which results in a lack of resources for G&T kids. Perhaps SOME kids will do well no matter what. It looks like I'm one of them, little studying maniac for most of my life, but I've had the most fabulous teachers and mentors encouraging me since year six.
Some of those high achievers, though, will end up strung out, bullied, and depressed, convinced they're the only freak in the universe. Others with potential, like my father, will drop out of school, bored and with neither family or school offering them any challenges or reasons to stay. Others, like my uncle, will realise they can pass comfortably without any effort, and then find themselves unequipped to cope with the real study required at university.
Few gifted children will achieve great things unless someone challenges them to do so... As long as the schooling system is content for them to achieve *good* things, we're consigning ourselves to a mediocrity. Yes, students who are struggling to keep their heads above water should be given every resource to achieve their very best. Why should the intelligent be denied the same advantage?

Comments

[areyoustrange.livejournal.com]

Hmm, interesting. I went to a selective high, but it was atypical in that it's got the lowest entry criteria of any in the state (CAN YOU READ? YES? WELL THEN YOU'RE IN, TIGER!), so there was absolutely zero competitiveness or "mind-numbing conformity". I'm pretty sure Smith's Hill is more famous for its huge proportion of queer kids and communists than anything else.

I don't think I would have done anywhere near as well in my local comprehensive high. Before I found out that I'd gotten into Smith's Hill, my twelve-year-old self had many sleepless nights fretting about going to a non-selective school. It would have been a pretty big shock to the system, given that I was also in a selective class in years five and six. I was indoctrinated! :)

[flamearrows.livejournal.com]

I honestly believe that people who are equipped to shine will do so regardless, if they're provided with decent schooling and the rest of it. Intelligence is no substitute for effort after all; just a measure of what you can achieve by applying both

[tarimanveri.livejournal.com]

Hi, have a boatload of word. I made it through high school on supportive teachers and a wonderful family who managed to convince me that things would be better at university, because wow, yes, intelligence-centred bullying. Grades five through nine were the worst. I definitely had an ongoing pipe dream of going off to boarding school to get myself into an International Baccalaureate programme, which never materialized, of course. Things got better and I survived and have done pretty well for myself so far, but the lasting ramifications of those years in terms of social awkwardness and poor self-esteem might be what holds me back in the end. Eep. Also, /overshare.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

Solidarity.
Weird smart nerds unite!

Grades 2, 4 and 12 were the worst for me. All the way along I was told it'd get better. It'll get better when you move schools (which it did. For a year.) It'll get better when you're accellerated (which it did. Class was actually stimulating. Didn't do much about the bullying, though). It'll get better in High School (whut?). It'll get better in year 11/12 (oh, yeah, because suddenly having only TWENTY people in the grade makes social life so much easier...). It'll get better at Uni.

And whaddya know, it did.

I used to want to go to boarding school, too, on the false assumption that if you LIVE with people you have to make friends eventually. This was such a strange assumption I'm glad my parents never listened! But they promised to send me to board at uni, where living with other SMART people does tend to make you friends eventually.

the lasting ramifications of those years in terms of social awkwardness and poor self-esteem might be what holds me back in the end
I operate on the principle of 'fuck you all I'm going to get HDs/ be an awesome academic and look down my nose upon you'. Nothing like a spot of bitterness to give a girl confidence...