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Home : 2007 : July : 3

luvnjesus
By josephineg

You wrote:

"The lower grades...are about academics...but sooooo much more."

"The 18 forms of acceleration include grade-skipping, early-entrance to school, and Advanced Placement (AP) courses." (A Nation
Deceived, p. 53).

Why haven't schools, parents, and teachers accepted the idea of acceleration? One reason is the belief that acceleration hurries children out of childhood.

The above referenced report shows that this reason is simply not supported by research. You can download the report at www.nationdeceived.org. The interactive website also allows you to give your

opinion on the report.

"Most parents worry less about academic effects than about friends for their children. But the image of the brilliant loner who has no one to talk to is not what researchers have found " (p. 36)

From an accelerated student (p. 33): "I'd certainly say that we're not growing up too fast because I think we're less afraid to show the children inside of us. When you go to high school that's forcing you to grow fast because everyone tries to act older than they are. Here you don't need to. Here you're not afraid to act a little bit younger sometimes, which is really nice." (University of Washington Early Entrance Program Student, From: "Different Strokes" by K. D. Noble, T. Arndt, T. Nicholson, T. Sletten, and A. Zamora. In The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, Winter 1998/1999.

"No other arrangement for gifted children works as well as acceleration," says Professor James Kulik, an expert on the subject at the University of Michigan. (p. 32)

All the best.