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#my 6th grade teacher let us work through the maths and spelling textbooks at our own pace
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personal thoughts on gifted kid discourse. talk with me in the replies if you want.
been seeing a lot about how "former gifted kids" just have complexes around elitism, and were far more fortunate to pass through the system then to fall through the cracks as there is no support for those that dont have as much ease with typical teaching/learning styles
but this isnt a univeral experiences
this post is just me sharing my experience okay
im denying that that happens a lot but...
we didnt have gifted programs. but we always had teacher aides and out-of-class tuition time for students who struggled.
in primary school they'd put like 5 of us in a class with another grade, bc we were expected to be able to learn independently, basically we were assigned a task or a page in a textbook each lesson and that was that.
and in high school, there was the advanced class but it had the same class size, definitely didn't have the best teachers, but on the plus side, our curriculum moved at a quicker pace and included a couple more advanced topics- so we did get that benefit.
but the one thing i noticed being in advanced classes was that the teachers did less teaching, they would give us the work to do, maybe explain it once if we were lucky, and leave us to it, and sure you could ask questions and get 1-on-1 time which was fine for 90% of the class...
BUT, we were still underfunded public schools.
there were tutorial programs to assist kids struggling to keep up - instead of sport and assemblies they would get direct tuition, and there were after school homework programs for people to access the library facilities and teacher assistance.
but if you were at the top, here's what happened: you were bored. you went to class, you did the task, nothing was challenging, nothing was especially interesting. occasionally something cool came along but the moment it got complicated the teachers would put a cap on it, tell us to just take something for granted, not to learn the intricacies, etc.
you wanted to take advanced subjects? you cant. there's no access.
in my experience what happens, is you just learn how to do menial tasks, you dont learn enduring skills in how to learn or overcome challenges, you don't learn how to study or ask questions or do research, you spend a lot of time learning how to 'dumb-it-down' to prove you know what you know. and then you go on to higher education, and you are not prepared at all.
and youre left with this terrible feeling of failure and unfulfilled potential.
i was told from a very early age that i should have been having advanced tuition. that comes at a cost.
i imagine that the ease at which students learn probably looks something like a bellcurve. and the system is designed for the those in the middle, there's pressure to raise our statistics and bring everyone up to that middle level, which brings some kids up, but it lets a lot down, and drags down a lot who could've gone further.
every child needs a personalised education. every child should be regularly assessed and placed in a learning situation which is appropriate to their level. every child deserves access to 1-on-1 learning to overcome obstacles.
and yeh i succeeded very well at just 'doing things' but the moment i had to learn? turns out im not equipped
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also the fact i went through my entire education without learning
-how to read music
-more than the most basic level of a second language
-how to do research
-anything about careers
-basic linguistics like different types of verbs (we got: I am walking, I walked, I will walk, as the only tenses).
-literally anything about anatomy beyond the basic digestive system and respiratory system.
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