No Child Gets Ahead

Time Magazine recently published an article that I think you may find interesting. The article outlines many of the ways that the public school system is failing our gifted children. Initiatives like No Child Left Behind help to ensure that low achieving children meet certain minimum requirements. Not only do these programs do little to help high achievers meet their potential, they often out compete gifted programs for funding. You can read the article here: Are We Failing Our Geniuses?.

The children highlighted in the article are highly precocious children, but I believe that schools rarely meet the needs of even our very bright children. Most gifted children are not geniuses, but they still have a need for challenge and a desire to be engaged.

I have talked with so many parents who are frustrated with a school system whose idea of challenge is giving a child more of the same work or requiring them to help someone else complete their work. It is frustrating to see classrooms where incentives are set up based on test scores rather than providing a quality educational environment and establishing a good relationship with parents. In classrooms, gifted children often become behavior problems because they are bored or underachievers because they are not engaged in a meaningful curriculum. It is obvious why so many parents of gifted children are choosing to meet the needs of their kids at home. In a home environment, parents can provide their children with the right amount of challenge in an environment tailored to meet their academic needs and support their strengths.