Re:New York City to Phase Out Its Gifted and Talented Program
by FooBarBizBazz on Friday October 08, 2021 @10:55AM
(#28800011)
I would have been diagnosed with ADD and medicated if I hadn't been put on a faster track. Luckily the teacher correctly observed to my parents that I was just bored. I don't know what would have happened to me in a system without that track. I probably would have been a much less happy child.
Re:New York City to Phase Out Its Gifted and Talented Program
by willcipriano on Friday October 08, 2021 @11:36AM
(#28800425)
It went the other way for me. Got the ADD diagnosis and put me into classes with kids with downs syndrome and other profound disabilities. Let me tell you, that isn't great for your social life. I ended up leaving as soon as I was legally allowed and got a job.
This supposed ADD disappeared once I got into the real world and was given actual problems to solve. I think they did it mostly to keep their test scores up. I have no faith in the education system as a result.
Also notable is that California is finalizing a proposal to eliminate faster tracking in mathematics, arguing that it is a promotion of white nationalist ideology. Calculus may only be taken in the senior year under these proposals, and Algebra is to be de-emphasized as the primary math target of middle school.¹
I found it quite striking that in a long proposal focused on racial justice in math, there is plenty of mention of white nationalism but exactly zero mention of the word "Asian".
[1]: https://equitablemath.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11...