Each of us in the early retirement set remembers what it was like in school. It was a tiny microcosm of fragmented social groups. Some groups were popular, while others banded together to rebel against the popular crowd. Even within these groups, further stratification was based on who was interested in schoolwork and who was not. Not that academic success mattered within the group, you were still accepted as a member and given the status you thought you deserved. As we graduated, we went from high school groups to college or social groups and did our best to maintain our status for as long as we could. In general, most of us succeeded in life in one way or another and gave birth to the next generation that would go through the gauntlet until it was repopulated again.

Every generation that has experienced public education has seen fit to allow the cream of the crop to rise to the top and take their place as leaders in the perpetuation of the American social and political ideal. Gifted students were given unique and surplus resources to enable them to develop their talents so that they can graduate from high school and take their place among their peers on the university’s high table. From this table of Phi Beta Kappans and research assistants, it was assumed that the gifted student would maintain their grades and quality of work necessary to move on to graduate school where they would earn their academic credential. This would catapult them into the elite of medicine, law, politics, the sciences, etc. Here are our leaders! They achieved their goals with the blood, sweat, and tears of their high school teachers.

Fast-forward to the 21st century, where the number of gifted students has skyrocketed as if on academic steroids. Today’s gifted learner is not that different than it was in the 20th century. However, their number and membership has been invaded by the greatest disease that the beginning of the 21st century has produced: Equality with an additional dose of equity! If you walk into my employer’s high school when it starts right after Labor Day, you’ll see a sea of ​​students with tags attached. Some of those labels will say “504”, some will say “SPED”, and some will say “Gifted”. Many of these gifted children will have been stuck with the label of gifted since the early days of elementary school and have carried it with them ever since. However, once he begins working with these children, the “g” and “I” begin to loosen from the gifted label. They whine and cry and complain about how difficult your class is and start opening their iPods while you try to teach them. Wait a minute! Are these the same children who have been gifted all along? What happened to your ability to step out on your own and take on those extra assignments and research papers to build your future? You start to wonder if they really got those grades or were they just handed to you by the previous teacher to pull your hair out.

Yes, in the name of equality and fairness, the gifted class has been invaded by the mediocre former students who were once content to sit in regular classes and get their nails done and discuss the series of plays from Friday’s football game. in the evening. As I sit and work with gifted classes these days, I see the cream of the crop (they are always there) working towards their future goals. But, now they must sit in the same classes with the popular ensemble whose parents insisted that they be labeled gifted and take the top-tier classes. Instead of the gifted teacher of the gifted spending quality time educating them to achieve those inspiring goals, the gifted teacher must now spend that resource on those students who don’t need to be in the gifted class. Equality has suggested that there should not be one class of students above another. Justice suggests that it is wrong to punish those poor mediocre students for doing their nails in class. They should be given the right to be gifted.

Coming up in Part 2: Why there needs to be a separate “gifted” program in every school.