Many schools around the nation have programs for gifted students. Sometimes they are called honors classes. I was in honors English. Algebra, not even close.
But those classes were meant to challenge students to aspire to greater heights – to become a better scholar.
That’s apparently considered to be a bad thing in Seattle, Washington.
The New York Post reports that the school district has decided to dismantle its gifted and talented program.
According to their reporting administrators argued that the program was oversaturated with white and Asian students. They cited a 2018 survey that found 70 percent of the students in the gifted program were white.
“Numbers would suggest that within our city … predominantly white children are more gifted than other cultures and races, and we know that is absolutely not true,” Kari Hanson, the district’s director of student support services, told Parent Map at the time.
School leaders had been hoping for a more inclusive, equitable and culturally sensitive program. Instead of the best and the brightest, Seattle educators wanted diversity.
“The program is not going away, it’s getting better,” school officials said on the district website. “It will be more inclusive, equitable and culturally sensitive.
“In particular, students who have been historically excluded will now have the same opportunities for services as every other student and get the support and enrichment they need to grow,” the district said.
In other words, children will be taught at the lowest common denominator.
So, don’t be surprised when the Starbucks barista can’t spell your name or make proper change.
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