andrew@inmet.UUCP (02/10/84)
#R:ihuxr:-86900:inmet:18800008:000:1933 inmet!andrew Feb 8 12:33:00 1984 T.C. Wheeler hit it right on the head when he exposed the implicit class bias in T&G programs! I could read and do arithmetic at the junior-high level at age 4. My parents (both working-class), however, had to threaten legal action before the school board would even let me take the exam for the T&G program! Several years later, a group of 8th/9th graders was allowed to take the SATs in order to identify those who might be capable of starting college early. Despite superlative performance on similar tests, I wasn't originally included among them; again my parents fought and the school board relented. (I scored 800M/751V at age 14, by the way... and was allowed to cross-register at the local community college. Big deal.) You will also notice a distinct class bias regarding guidance counselors' recommendations of colleges. The most prestigious schools, of course, devote considerable effort to finding and recruiting exceptionally bright students form non-prestigious backgrounds (Harvard once rented a helicopter to help them recruit talented Eskimos), but few guidance counselors want this to be known. Their job is basically to get the doctors', lawyers', and executives' kids into the prestige schools while diverting working-class kids, regardless of intelligence, into the community colleges. Paul L. mentioned a third-grader and Zeno's Paradox (1/2+1/4+1/8... = ?). Well, I was kicked out of high school for asking my math teacher if there was any such thing as the square root of i! Rather than admit her ignorance, she claimed that I was "disrupting the class with smart-aleck comments" and tried to have me suspended from school. Fortunately, the chairman of the Math Department came to my rescue that time... he not only explained that it was a legitimate question, but even explained Euler's Theorem and how it could be used to calculate the answer (+- (1+i)/sqrt(2)... try it!). A.W. Rogers
amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (John Hobson) (02/13/84)
I, too, had the same sort of experience as A. W. Rogers (accused of being disruptive because of a question beyond the teacher's competence to answer). My experience was slightly different: I pointed out, in a high school history class, that approximately 1/3 of the colonists (the loyalists) actively opposed the American Revolution. This angered my teacher (a member of the DAR) (How could anyone deny American mythology?). A happier solution occured in my case, I was moved into a different history class. This is not something that has happened only to Mr. Rogers and myself. Peter Ustinov, in his memoirs, says that he was asked in school "Who is the greatest composer of all time?" When he said "Bach", he was told that he was wrong, the answer was Beethoven. My father, when he was in school, was told about the Canadian province of Saskatoon. When a Canadian boy in his class said that the province was Saskatchewan, and that Saskatoon was a city in it, he was caned (this was in England) for impertinence. Protestations that the boy had been there and knew what he was talking about were to no avail. Many teachers become treatened by students who ask questions that the teacher does not know or show that the student has a mind of his/her own and does not agree with the teacher. This is something that all parents should watch out for. John Hobson AT&T Bell Labs Naperville, IL (312) 979-0193 ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2
mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton) (02/15/84)
In all fairness, there are lots of teachers who do not tell the student to shut up when they get a question over their heads. It happened to me, I don't remember the grade level, but we were learning fractions, so it must have been around 4 or 5. I asked "Is there any such thing as 1 over 1/2" and was told "Yes, I think there is a way to do that, I just don't know how." It satisfied me at the time, and didn't generate a long divergence on inverses. Mark
eric@aplvax.UUCP (02/15/84)
As the product of a T&G program, I thought I would throw in my two cents worth. I went through a program in the mid-west, shortly after it was started (I was in the third year). There was certainly no sign of class bias. My own parents were not particularly well off, and several of my classmates were from lower income families, or minorities (not necessarily the same). There are disadvantages to such programs, such as the danger of elitism, false perception of elitism, etc. But in ordinary classes, I was "dogging" it to avoid harassment from my fellow students, that was not necessary in the T&G class. And I think that most of us ended up to be fairly normal (my own warped self excluded). That is, no Nobel prize winners, some lawyers, docters, car mechanics, salesmen, businessmen, unemployed. The T&G programs do not guarentee riches or super-intellect, but they do give gifted children a chance to excel, and to learn that they are not abnormal. P.S. One difference I do note, I remember most of my classmates from those early years, and in fact often look them up if given the chance. This is probably more a product of going through three years of school together than the T&G program, but it is a nice feeling of camaraderie. -- eric ...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric