josephineg . . .

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Home : 2007 : July : 3

josephineg . . .
By Meggin

I'm deeply saddened to hear your reports that you did not let your son skip a grade. When will you give him a chance to be with his mental peers? Perhaps when he goes to college, if he doesn't drop out before then? The best
place for him to learn to socialize appropriately is with his intellectual peers. This has repeatedly been borne out by research.

Josephineg, I'm astonished by your fervence for gifted education. You're saddened that we did not choose to let our son skip a grade? What is it to you? For the record, let's examine some facts about my son and our choices:

My

son is being challenged in mathematics and reading and has been throughout his academic career.
Even though he is able to take classes at an appropriate level in mathematics and reading, he is still not with his mental or intellectual peers. My son's IQ scores put him at 2 Standard Deviations above the level of most gifted students in mathematics and more than 1 Standard Deviation above most gifted students in reading. He is as different from them as they are from students with an average IQ. The school psychologist who tested him said his abilities place him in the 1 in 10,000 or greater range. Just where are we going to find his mental or intellectual equals?
My son has 3 older siblings, all gifted. Our decisions for him are based on our experiences with his siblings. For the record, 2 are college graduates with honors, the third will graduate next year (presumably also with honors--he's summa cum laude so far). Two were valedictorians of large graduating classes, and one of the valedictorians was a National Merit Scholar. None of them were allowed to skip a grade because we believe the ability to adapt to the real world of average people is one of the greatest gifts we could give them.
My son is able to follow his interests and keep himself challenged. He plays the piano with great skill. He knows an excessive amount about the Middle Ages and the Roman Empire. He reads science and history books for fun, and tackles a subject until he is saturated with knowledge. There is nothing anyone could do to keep my son from finding something that challenges his interests; it is, and always has been, the pattern of his life.
I do boring, routine things every day. All of us do--whether it's grading papers or washing the dishes. Work is not entertaining nor challenging most of the time. Why on earth would I want my son to experience an education which is not going to prepare him for the real world? The real world expects workers to do their jobs, even if it is easy, even if it is boring. I want him to learn that any job is a job worth doing and doing well.
My son is happiest when he's with his age-level peers. That's been the most compelling reason of all to keep him there.
All the best.