GATE Rage

Gate should be as it's name suggests...Gifted students learning...now gifts come in all sorts of packages...not all white and not all perfectly- perfect.
Gate should be about kids learning from all levels and mediums of thought.
The learning disabled are pushed to the back of the bus.
My learning disabled son is VERY gifted.
He has great teachers that help him stay creative and confident.
But in PTSA mtgs ...I am the only parent representing a disabled student.
Plenty of GATE parents.
It is like a huge bragging session about smart kids...who look and sound good.
Gate needs to open it self up...actually it needs to get back to it's original authentic principle.
Gifted-creative learning...for all.

As a former GATE student myself (in high school), I'm very pleased with what the program gave to me: The chance to surround myself with like minded students who value their education, want to be at school, and are working towards college. As there were many minority students in my classes (mainly Hispanic) I could never say the program is racist. Yes I had to pass a test to get into the program, but as I've always done for all standardized test that I've taken, I put myself down as being the most obscure ethnicity that's available, thus disproving the fact that the program itself is racist. The reality is that students who do poorly in school or have difficulty passing the GATE test are not being discriminated against because of who they are or how much money their parents make, they most likely don't have parents that stress the value of education and are ok with mediocrity. I know that this will most likely never change, but why undercut a program like GATE that gives education driven students the opportunity to grow instead of being held back by students that don't care and don't want to be there?

SBLoc there is some hope left. Way to go. Just understand that when you hear comments like, "is what us teachers like to call perpetuation of social inequalities." It is code for socialism. But good job and congrats. Daniel Petry

How do you seat through a school board meeting without sticking a pencil through eyeball?

". . .Standardized tests are racist. Numerous researchers have shown that the scores directly correlate to students' socio-economic status, and minorities tend to be of lower socioeconomic status."

How come they are only 'racist' when the races are *American-centric* black/brown vs. white? How many Asians do you see failing these tests? --Or, are Asian skin colors really just off-white? How about Pacific Islanders, the Inuit, Indians (from India) and Amer-Indians ("Native Americans")? What about people from the Middle-East, of which I know several who are certainly "gifted", yet also sport epidermis of high-melanin content. Or, maybe South Americans, like Brazilians, Peruvians, or Argentinians--other, non-Mexican brown-skinned persons?

Or, is it really slanted economically, where one might be able to find "gifted" students among (Mexican) immigrant families that are middle-class (whatever that means, anymore)? I know plenty of 1st/2nd-generation Mexican immigrants who have their own businesses and do very well, monetarily--are they just overshadowed by a 'majority' of the underpriviledged?

I went to government schools on military bases for part of my life, and attended public school in two states--the last being in California. I don't recall if the teachers showed any subtle favoritism, by giving attention to certain students over others--which might be something that requires study--but I do know that most high-achieving students worked at maintaining their status. Slackers did the same. And, average students were average--exactly as they should be, in the majority. . .as the joke goes, "ever notice how most people are average?"

My point is, even considering there *IS* some influence of socio-economic factors, the students get out what they put in. And, even if "average" students worked to become "gifted/above average", those already so would seek to achieve more, and others less.

There is probably more of a *motivational* problem with students. And, the problem with that, is that may come from a family history where book-education is not considered as important as working experience. One might correlate that back to the socio-economic status issue, but it might also point to a lack of involvement by the parents. So much blame placed on "the system", while none seems to ever fall on the students, or their parents. . . .

What would happen if all students--starting in first grade--were challenged intellectually and if they had problems getting the subject matter (be it not being as adept in one subject as another, having dyslexia, or whatever) had access to state-paid tutors who could get them up to speed? (I scored very high in verbal concepts but was borderline retarded in spatial concepts so I know the frustration of not getting the subject matter while being told I didn't apply myself)

The operative phrase here is "Spanish-speaking" parent. Let's see, the same people who dwell on the fact that we have students of different races are as a rule those people who balk at the idea that Spanish-speaking immigrants should not be given services in Spanish. In short, they feel that people from south of the U.S. are either incapable of learning English or that they shouldn't have to learn the language.
I also find it interesting when white folks will call those of us who believe in a common language racists yet they themselves make no effort to speak Spanish. (To wit, how do they expect to communicate with "Spanish-speaking" people if neither side knows the language of the other?...rhetorical question indeed)
Public education is rife with political correctness and teachers who have social agendas that do not benefit the students. I remember a school board meeting back in the late 1990's where a teacher compared ending Bilingual Education to "Hitler's Final Solution". Of course, nobody said a word in protest so it was clear that other teachers must have agreed with him. (I wonder if he would have said that to a concentration camp survivor)
OK, so it seems that I'm getting of course but I'm really not because the truth is race politics *is* a player in public education and Mexican/Hispanic/Latino kids are perceived as being different from the rest of the kids by those who claim to be free of racism. Think back to the days of immigrants coming off the boat from Eastern and Southern Europe who had no money, no English, and little education and sometimes spoke languages much less related to English than Spanish. Somehow, they learned the language and their kids assimilated.

Per Daniel Petry's post I would say that even in a socialist country these problems would likely not exist. Ironically, a child migrated from a Spanish-speaking country to a Scandinavian one would probably more likely learn English well (after learning the language of the given country) than they would have under the "bilingual" education fiasco. What we are talking about here isn't socialism, it's far-Left political correctness rooted in self-loathing and rebelliousness.

Whether these teachers realize it or not, (and to be fair, I don't think they do) they are blaming Mexican culture for their own failed policies.