We spend a fortune on special needs kids which is fine. I have nothing against that. It's the decent thing to do. Those kids need help so give it to them.
Still, what do we do with the truly talented? We've all met them at one time or another. They are the nerdy kids that get all As and genetically modified some flowers to make them bigger as a third grade science project.
I know of no programs to let kids like that run free and utilize their talents. Instead we put them in a classroom with everyone else and force the poor kid to be bored to tears in a classroom designed to let the slowest kid keep up.
Sometimes the boredom leads to behavioral problems out of frustration. Mostly it takes a kid and totally stifles him and leaves them sitting there annoyed that they can't get out and run.
Speaking of running, an athlete will often be nurtured and encouraged but the talented kid gets ignored. They simply say, "He's/she's a good student," and leave it at that. Big deal. He got an A in freshman algebra when he probably could have aced calculus easily enough.
What a waste! Let the kid go for it! Let him soar!
Yank him out of the classroom and give him his own laboratory of some sort as befits his interest. Let him skip grades if he is able and if he enters a college classroom when he's 14, so what?
Let a kid like that see what his upper limit is and while not all of those talented kids are going to find a cure for cancer, one of them is going to figure out how to make a longer lasting light bulb or something like that.
I say let's fund SUCCESS.
You are correct. There isn't a program for letting children run free and utilize talents. It is an uncharted territory. Realistically, you cannot do that. Take into consideration the child's age. Children need guidance. You can't just let them run around like they're puppies. Lawmakers and education leaders are trying to develop strategies to expand access to gifted education services. There are gifted programs. When it came to math and science in the classroom, my son left that class to go to the gifted classroom for those courses. Later on in high school he took AP courses. (advanced placement). As a child, he liked to take objects apart, figure out how they worked and put back together. He could put Lego sets together without looking at instructions. The science center had programs like that on Saturday. I took him to these classes, and he was intellectually stimulated. He is a mechanical engineer today. Parents also have a responsibility to encourage intellectual abilities. It is not totally up to the school district. sr
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