This morning’s Post carried this story by Jay Mathews: School Rules Stifle Gifted Student. Be still my heart–Jay Mathews taking on the case of gifted student denied acceleration. Echoes of the Singam case.
Anyone who wants to appreciate how strong a grip high school has on the American imagination, and how clueless some school districts are about this, should consider the story of Drew Gamblin, a 16-year-old student at Howard High School in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Drew, a child so gifted he taught himself to write at age 3, craves a high school diploma and all that comes with it–debate team, music, drama and senior prom. When a series of inexplicable decisions by Howard County school officials–such as requiring him to stay in an algebra class he had mastered—led his parents to home school him and put him in local college classes, he still insisted on his high school dream.
So Drew is back at Howard High, even though the school district is making it hard to enjoy all the school has to offer. He is being forced to take a modern world history course he already had at Howard Community College and a junior year English course he took at home, as well as other subjects he has already studied. He hopes that school district superintendent Sydney L. Cousin will exercise his authority under the Code of Maryland Regulations and develop an alternative way for him to fulfill graduation requirements, but it doesn’t look good.
Reading the comments, I just have to shake my head at some of the idiocy out there. With a hat tip to the a contributor on the GTA listserv, I offer this quote from a wise French observer:
…In a democratic society, as well as elsewhere, there are only a certain number of great fortunes and positions; and as the paths which lead to them are indiscriminately open to all, the progress of all must necessarily be slackened. As the candidates appear to be nearly alike, and as it is difficult to make a selection without infringing the principle of equality which is the supreme law of democratic societies, the first idea which suggests itself is to make them all advance at the same rate, and submit to the same trials.
Thus, in proportion as men become more alike, and the principle of equality is more peaceably and deeply infused into the institutions and manners of the country, the rules for advancement become more inflexible, advancement itself slower, the difficulty of arriving quickly at a certain height far greater. From hatred of privilege and from the embarrassment of choosing, all men are at last constrained, whatever may be their standard, to pass the same ordeal; all are indiscriminately subjected to a multitude of petty preliminary exercises, in which their youth is wasted and their imagination quenched, so that they despair of ever fully attaining what is held out to them; and when, at length, they are in a condition to perform any extraordinary acts, the taste for such things has forsaken them.”
- Alexis de Toqueville, Democracy in America, pub. 1835
I’m not even sure this is specifically a gifted issue so much as just an indication of what dumb, inflexible bureaucracies a lot of high schools are. That doesn’t sound like a great school for an average achiever to attend, either, but their inflexibility is made starkly clear when you look at the treatment of an extreme case. I hope there’s some compensation for him in terms of extracurriculars, or individual wonderful teachers/departments. I also hope he’s not the only one there doing whatever it is he excels at, either.
I must say, it doesn’t seem to me to be *that* big a deal to be technically qualified to go to college while still in high school — wouldn’t that apply to an awful lot of students? There is a huge overlap between high-level high-school courses and low-level college courses, after all, and look at all the seventh-graders who get SAT scores in the college-bound range. Given that he doesn’t *want* to go to college yet, I sure wouldn’t pay for it if I were his parents, either.
Sad, and also happens at the college and professional level. In college, I earned “A’s” in graduate-level writing courses and taught freshman writing for a university, but when I changed enrollment to a university in another state, I was forced to spend a Saturday taking an “upper division writing exam” to prove I could write at the college level. Also, I was made to take a basic math course to fulfill a requirement, despite having passed calculus with an “A.” Advanced math didn’t count. I never went to class–just showed for the midterm and final. Thankfully the prof didn’t factor attendance in the grade.
I know of a college that made a master’s student take a course for which she had designed the curriculum to fulfill a requirement to keep a teaching credential.
Ridiculous. And there’s little wonder that so many gifted people choose to forgo academia altogether and go it without the degree.
Mathews posted a follow-up from the school, as you probably saw: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2009/10/_since_the_story_of.html
Thanks for flagging this!
Here’s a super blog post on this controversy by a very gifted high school blogger. Do read.
http://perpetualdissent.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/in-which-more-gt-hilarity-earns-a-post/
I am amazed at how quickly people read articles posted by people who obviously have an agenda and believe everything they read. This is especially true for some of the garbage posted on the internet. How many times have black folk complained about prejudice, injustice and getting fair and equal treatment yet, here we are already condemning a school system because the “gifted” child said that they were not treated fairly. There is always more than one side to these kinds of stories. Unfortunately, the school system, any school system, cannot give more details due to confidentiality issues.
I have been a school counselor for over 20 years and have come across situations just like this. It frustrates me that parents can go to the press and give their side of a situation and play the “race” card and play on the sympathy of the public knowing that the whole story will not come out. And sure enough, everyone automatically thinks that this “gifted” young man is being treated unfairly. Has anyone asked these questions: His percentiles may be high, but compared to what standard? How is his attendance? Does he have any disciplinary referrals? What level of classes is he in and how are his grades? What is his academic history – high school and college? If he was home schooled, what program did he use and did the parents follow the school districts guidelines?
Reserve judgment until you know all of the facts. Remember what happens when you ASSume something…..
His attendance and disciplinary referrals *should* have NOTHING to do with whether he is in Algebra 1 or Geometry. Nothing to do with whether he is in American History or AP National, State and Local Government. *All* of these teachers should be equally prepared to handle a child with an attendance or discipline problem. In practice, that doesn’t happen, and teachers of above-grade-level classes usually expect better attendance and fewer disciplinary referrals.
But the ability to behave in class and the ability to go to class regularly are not the determining factor of ability to handle the work.
Play the race card?! I think you’re assuming an awful lot here as well. Where on earth did they play the race card? The only reason his race even came up was because the College Board folks track that percentile ranking (okay, and they mentioned his mom’s family name, which happens to be Korean — but come ON, they can’t give someone’s NAME?).
It would be quite easy to skim this story and not even notice that he wasn’t white (default=white being generally the case in newspaper stories). If that’s playing the race card, I have to say it’s with one heck of a poker face.
Ditto Kristen and Helen. Roger the school counselor needs to read http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/alessi_problems_blame.html one of my favorite studies of all time.
Yes, reading the article I was thinking, hmmm, bet there are personality clashes there. Why can’t the teachers and school be mature about that though? But Roger’s thinking is that behavior is everything and academic needs are nothing. Sounds like he objectively passed exams equivalent to finals, so why have to retake the classes?