The tricky thing about the top 2% (or really top 1%) is that traditional schooling isn’t well suited for them. They’re likely in classes where they are literally learning nothing for years and are utterly bored in school. They develop awful study habits, etc.
To the teachers/school, if they already know it, great, that’s one less student to worry about, but if a child is never intellectually challenged until much further on in school, once they do hit challenges, they don’t know how to deal with them.
A lot of resources are put into the top 2% (and there should be), but I think more resources should be in place for the other end as well. Sadly, a lot of school systems are trying to remove gifted programs and those sorts of things. Being in the top range of IQs may seem great, but it can come with a lot of challenges, imo.
No, they’re not really. Not unless the parents are putting the resources there.
The G&T classes I was familiar with, until I hit CTY, were mainly to keep us from disrupting the rest of the students. And I wouldn’t, as long as they let me read my books in peace (most teachers left me alone to read my books, so that was ok). I learned most of my stuff because my dad had a great math/science library, and knew where to point me in terms of subjects & authors. Not all kids can self-teach from books, of course, and not all have parents who have a good idea about appropriate resources.
I happen to live where they do put a good amount of resources into special education [Westchester County, NY] and have loads of therapists and supports, and I really appreciate it.
I was trying to say they fund the bottom 2% and should, but the top percent of the IQ scale is often ignored, and schools should allocate more resources into that group also.
I was talking about the bottom 2%, which you probably haven’t had a lot of actual experience with. These people will not be able to live independently, forget about any productive labor.
You seem to be thinking merely about below-average people, and yeah, maybe there is a bunch of time wasted in trying to ram everybody in the same educational direction. I agree there.
I’m curious exactly what group of kids you’re talking about, since the “time/energy/money” part of your statement makes it sound like you’re talking about kids with disabilities, but the idea that somehow these kids have the maturity and executive functioning required to enter the workforce at 13/14 years old is laughable. I guess I’m also curious if you think the average 13/14 year old has the maturity and executive functioning required to enter the current workforce (not the family farm of yesteryear), especially considering they aren’t even allowed to drive yet.
