No Genius Left Behind!

In 2003, U.S. adults were outperformed by adults in Norway, Bermuda, Canada, and Switzerland.

Adults in Bermuda, Norway, and Canada had higher literacy scores than U.S. adults at both the high and low ends of the score distribution.

The highest performers (the top 10 percent of adults) had literacy scores of 353 or higher in Bermuda, 348 or higher in Norway, and 344 or higher in Canada, compared with 333 or higher in the United States.

The lowest performers (those in the bottom 10 percent) in Bermuda had literacy scores of 213 or lower, 233 or lower in Norway, and 209 or lower in Canada, compared with 201 or lower in the United States.

The lowest performers in Switzerland also outperformed their U.S. counterparts in literacy, scoring 216 or lower.  could read.

Challenge Not Possible

Statistics are clearly showing that Americans can't compete globally. Advocates for Gifted Education have had our complaints about this issue fall upon deaf ears for years.

America On a Steady Decline

In 2007, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) conducted a study. Fourth- and eighth-grade students were tested in Math and Science against 35 other participating countries.  It was noted that the average eighth-grade math score was higher than 23 other countries. However, what the report does not highlight is that the countries at the top are the ones that consistently pose strong competition against us for American jobs.

Fourth-graders faired worse. The United States placed 11th on the list with mostly Asian countries leading the pack.

Science statistics had a disturbing opposite showing

It was the fourth-graders that faired a little better at the 8th spot with the same Asian countries in the lead.  Eighth-grade US students dropped to the 11th spot.

For both grade levels, Hong Kong SAR took first place in Math, while Singapore took first place in Science.

Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind

In her book, Dr. Deborah Ruf says this:

"Most parents of gifted children go through a similar process of discovering that their children are different from others and that the schools won’t necessarily recognize or support the needs of their children. Early delight in their precocious, engaging newborns and toddlers turns to confusion and worry as other people point out problems with the children or the children themselves don’t conform to everyone else’s expectations. These worried parents find themselves having to become activists and advocates for their children through self-education, assessments, and considerable time and effort. Much of this is done on their own and leaves them feeling tremendous frustration, uncertainty, and loneliness. Finally, when they’ve done everything they can to help their children, most can only cross their fingers and hope they’ve made the right choices."

from Chapter 2. Issues for Parents

Let Them In....

Until our society becomes more welcoming of the reality that one child can be smarter than another, children with high mental ability will be less and less likely to be served in our schools. The outcome will only hurt us as a society because more and more gifted minds will be left behind.

Stop the Insanity

As a college student, I am regularly having to have discussions with other students of varying ages. The fact that so many younger students seem to have a problem even writing a grammatically correct sentence scares me. 

It is time for parents to get on the "Brain Train" and get tough on educating their children. Never push a child to do more than they're capable of. However, American students are spending more time texting on cell phones than learning how to properly spell an entire sentence.  I see my own neighborhood children highly gifted at skateboarding, without a clue of how to do their homework.

In a time where math calculations are done on an excel sheets and our word processor fixes our grammatical and spelling errors, more and more children are not learning that sometimes we can't count on computer to do our work for us and sometimes the electricity goes out. If this current trend continues, education will have to be watered down more than it already is to accommodate lower ability children. And more high ability children will be lost.

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