Should schools have GT programs?
Lucas Senecal is a high school junior. In this article, he will examine both perspectives and make recommendations about the future of GT:
If you were a mother bird teaching your fledglings to fly, would you hold one fledgling back—even if it was ready—just because the others weren’t? You might say yes, because as only one bird, you couldn’t watch them all at once. But what if another adult bird could safely guide the fledgling on its first flight? Would you still hold it back? Gifted and Talented (or GT) programs are like the support of that second adult bird: they allow gifted students to take flight in their education when they are ready, something that would not always be possible in the regular classroom, where teachers have to be more concerned about the collective learning of the whole class, rather than helping each student reach their own full potential. GT programs are undeniably valuable in elementary education and should be supported, but they must also be restructured in higher grades to address issues of fairness and practicality.
As a GT student in elementary school, I experienced the impact of GT firsthand. I was never really challenged in the regular classroom, but that was never the case once a week in GT. We learned material far above grade level, such as the parts of a cell, famous unsolved enigmas in history, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. But it was the skills we learned like how to have meaningful group discussions, the way we learned about ourselves such as taking a multiple intelligences test, and the understanding that there are always multiple solutions to a problem that really stuck with me.
While GT was extremely effective for me in elementary school, I acknowledge concerns about the ethics and practicality of GT programs. The way students are identified for GT programs by teacher recommendation and parent pushing introduces significant error and bias. Schools should implement GT testing for all students to give everyone a fair chance of proving they should be in GT. The biggest problem with GT is the impracticality of pulling a small group of students from regular classes one day each week. While this system may be able to work in elementary, it can certainly begin to hurt GT students’ academic performance in higher grades - the opposite of what GT is intended to do. One solution is that GT programs could switch to a daily class period in middle and high school. Some schools may even question whether GT programs are necessary at all at those levels as there are already many elective, honors, and AP classes that allow for a more personalized learning path than the homeroom class structure of elementary school. If a school has many challenging classes that incorporate aspects of GT learning, a GT program may be unnecessary and redundant. However, in schools with limited opportunities for advanced learners, GT programs can still be very impactful, even in higher grades.
The problem with GT programs that people have the hardest time dealing with is the fact that only a small group of students, not to mention those who may already have an educational advantage, get to benefit from GT style learning. While GT programs were created because of the truth that we are all born with different aptitudes, your success should not be entirely determined by circumstances you cannot control. That is why I believe that all students should be exposed to the GT approach to learning. Things like project-based learning, assignments that allow for creativity, and challenge assignments should be built into standard curriculum. Additionally, schools should offer more after-school enrichment opportunities that help students develop a love for learning from a young age.
With education becoming paramount for success in the modern world, supporting programs like GT, and pushing for access to more personalized education for all can have a major impact on the world. The passion from teachers to empower every learner is there, it is just up to governments and administration to put them in position to fulfill this goal. Who knows how much better the world could be if every advanced fledgling were encouraged to soar—and every other fledgling allowed to take flight in their own way.
