Gifted Programs Show a Talent for Inequity
Warren Buffett
Start with the story of one particularly troublesome Washington-area gifted child  Warren Buffett  as described in the biography "The Snowball " by Alice Schroeder. By age 13  Buffett  later to be the richest man in the world and a Washington Post Co. board member  had had it with school. I wonder whether it might have been better had his parents let him quit right then.
 At newspaper gatherings  Buffett sometimes mentions the Washington Post paper route he had as a boy. It sounds quaint and charming  until you read the book and discover that the kid had so many routes that his annual income (including proceeds from his tenant farm and other investments) was greater than that of his teachers at his junior and senior high schools. His father was a congressman  his family was comfortable  but he had made all that money himself as a boy genius entrepreneur. By age 14  he had filed his first tax return.
 The only teacher who got through to Buffett was the school golf coach  and only because he took the student to the racetrack in Charles Town  W.Va.  where the future investment guru tested his theories on speed handicapping. Buffett's grades improved only because his father threatened to end his newspaper delivery business if he did not shape up.
 These days  we have many fine teachers trained to help gifted children. Many parents are happy that their children have been designated gifted. But we have no data to show that such children wouldn't be better off if they were just taken to the library and told to read anything they liked. That was how Buffett spent much of his time  devouring volumes on every imaginable subject  including every business book he could find.
Start with the story of one particularly troublesome Washington-area gifted child  Warren Buffett  as described in the biography "The Snowball " by Alice Schroeder. By age 13  Buffett  later to be the richest man in the world and a Washington Post Co. board member  had had it with school. I wonder whether it might have been better had his parents let him quit right then.
 At newspaper gatherings  [TGT] sometimes mentions the Washington Post paper route he had as a boy. It sounds quaint and charming  until you read the book and discover that the kid had so many routes that his annual income (including proceeds from his tenant farm and other investments) was greater than that of his teachers at his junior and senior high schools. His father was a congressman  his family was comfortable  but he had made all that money himself as a boy genius entrepreneur. By age 14  he had filed his first tax return.
 The only teacher who got through to [TGT] was the school golf coach  and only because [TGT] took the student to the racetrack in Charles Town  W.Va.  where the future investment guru tested his theories on speed handicapping. [TGT]'s grades improved only because [TGT] father threatened to end [TGT] newspaper delivery business if [TGT] did not shape up.
 These days  we have many fine teachers trained to help gifted children. Many parents are happy that their children have been designated gifted. But we have no data to show that such children wouldn't be better off if they were just taken to the library and told to read anything they liked. That was how [TGT] spent much of [TGT] time  devouring volumes on every imaginable subject  including every business book [TGT] could find.