Quote:
Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
I have heard this from a Republican friend of mine who voted for Bush (at least in 2000) who has a very gifted child in a good Northern Va. public school system. She gets very upset by what she sees as the impact of NCLB on that system and her daughter's education.
i.e. Enforcing and/or leading to mediocrity, while not helping the smart kids at all. I helpfully pointed out to her that her child was not being "left behind", because she didn't need help, and that mediocrity was a step up for many kids. That didn't comfort her much. But I'm not sure how one would/could target a program more appropriately.
S_A_M
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there is a large % of educated parents out there who see there kiddies as "gifted." the public schools their kids go to are never doing enough to keep the kiddies challenged. no offense to your friend but most of them are full of shit.
A truly intelligent kid will have to learn to deal with being less than fully challenged at times anyway, throughout life. and we are talking about k-12 which isn't intended to teach a hell of a lot anyway.
I would rather your friend's kid isn't challenged to her capability, but most of her classmates end up being able to read and do basic math so they can function.
ultimately being able to "weave disparate thoughts on historical factors" or whatever GGG is talking about is nice, but not at the expense of a few classrooms full of kids who can't read and have no clue if they jreceived the proper change at the market.
