After the Election
Friday November 7, 2008
Regardless of which presidential candidate people supported, we all have to agree that the election of Barack Obama is a historic event. The vast majority of African Americans were slaves until after the Civil War and although the Fifteenth Amendment passed in 1870 gave them the right to vote, it really wasn't until nearly 100 years later that they were freely able to exercise that right. Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited any discrimination in voting practices. Now, less than fifty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Americans have elected an African American as president.
What does the election of Obama mean for gifted kids? My hope is that we will now have more focus on identifying gifted children from minority groups. Too often people seem to believe that minority children can't be gifted. However, I know of no evidence that supports that belief. Gifted children exist in about the same percentage across racial and socio-economic lines.
If Americans can elect an African American president, then surely they can understand that African American children can be gifted and if given an appropriate education and the right opportunities, they can achieve great things. However, with twice as many blacks as whites living in poverty, it is not possible for many parents of black gifted children to pay for the kinds of extracurriular activities that gifted children need. Instead, they must rely on the schools to provide their children with intellectual challenges.
Perhaps Americans can finally see the importance of providing adequate services for gifted children. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a properly funded NCLB Act that includes gifted children? How about a new act called No Child Left Out?
What does the election of Obama mean for gifted kids? My hope is that we will now have more focus on identifying gifted children from minority groups. Too often people seem to believe that minority children can't be gifted. However, I know of no evidence that supports that belief. Gifted children exist in about the same percentage across racial and socio-economic lines.
If Americans can elect an African American president, then surely they can understand that African American children can be gifted and if given an appropriate education and the right opportunities, they can achieve great things. However, with twice as many blacks as whites living in poverty, it is not possible for many parents of black gifted children to pay for the kinds of extracurriular activities that gifted children need. Instead, they must rely on the schools to provide their children with intellectual challenges.
Perhaps Americans can finally see the importance of providing adequate services for gifted children. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a properly funded NCLB Act that includes gifted children? How about a new act called No Child Left Out?
Comments
It’s ironic but when I was hired to teach art under a gifted salary allocation then took the intro GT graduate class at a local university, the obstacle between me serving the Afro-American students was the Afro-American principal who wanted me teaching the entire student body using an enrichment model that did not comply with state or national guidelines. Education of administrators is a bottleneck for providing a continuum of service to those students who are identified as performing at a higher level than most of their peers.