Evening star., 1960-01-31
Educators Revise Ideas About Talented Student
By DR.. BENJAMIN FINE

Although she is only Z, Mary
already knows how to read and
write as well as a sixth-grade
child. Even in kindergarten, she
startled her teachers by doing
mathematical sums in her head.
Now Mary. in the second
grade, is bored with school. Her
teacher complains she is rest
less, fidgety, unco-operative and
boisterous. A potential trouble
maker, if ever there was one.
What shall we do with Mary?
Her 10. shows near-genius
score of l65. Shall she remain
in the second grade and be
bored, or is it better to skip
her to the third grade?
For the last IS years or so,
school officials have frowned
on Skipping" So girls like
Mary remained in the second
grade. Perhaps they had extra
duties-they might get another
book to read, or help teacher
clean the blackboard. That
didn't seem to help.
We are now taking a new
look at skipping, and at the
traditional values in education.
Recent studies have shown it
Is better for Mary to jump into
the third grade, skipping the
second entirely. if she can do
advanced work. Education is
turning full circle.
Failure Complex" Feared
. Or take the case of Billy. He
finds it hard to keep up with
his classmates in the fourth
grade. He reads at first-grade
level. and can hardly write his
name. Shall he go to the fifth
grade along with his 9-year -old
Classmates? Up to now, in most
school systems. the answer has
been yes. This is known as
continuous promotion - the
child is promoted, grade after
grade. regardless of his aca-
.demic performance. 1t was
felt that other factors were in
.volved. such as keeping the
child from having a failure
complex"
: The traditional values in
,education are returning. In
Sense we can thank Sputnik
and the shock we got from the
Russians show of learning for
the new trend. Education is
today taking moderate posi-
tion.
In a 225-page study, just
issued by the National Educa-
.tion Association. the Importance
.of taking another look at the
gifted child is stressed. The
report was sponsored by the
carnegie Corporation and pre-
pared by prominent educators.
,who studied the needs Of aca-
:demically talented boys and
'girls. And they came up with
rather startling, If not dis
.couraging, facts.
: Gifted Are Neglected
: BY and large our talented
youngsters are neglected in the
Nations public schools. The
.NEA and the National Man
power Council estimate that
100000 bright children a year
are denied the full chance to
develop the way they should.
There are many reasons why
schools have done little, up to
now, about gifted youth. Some
children do not want to show
their talents because they are
eostracized by their companions
If they are too smart" More
sover. the notion still prevails
THAT it is "undemocratic" for
communities to operate special
programs for the gifted.
/ In the good old days"-if
they can be called that-if a
child was bright. he skipped a
grade. But school psychologists
told US this could prove harm
,,ful to the youngster in later
life. He might become frus-
trated, or emotionally insecure.
There are various ways by
which child can accelerate
his program. The simplest one
Is to jump a child one or two
grades at a time. Another
method is to give a child three
years work in two: This is
commonly done on the Junior
high school level. Still another
way is to admit the child to
school at an earlier age.
Honor Courses Set Up
Then there are variations
which permit the child to get
more work even though he is
not skipped. Bright children
are grouped together in special
classes, known as honor courses
or advanced placement classes.