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Re: Finland
Posted:
Feb 19, 2012 9:25 PM
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At 12:47 AM 2/19/2012, Paul Tanner wrote:
>Perhaps this point about parents shows that democracy makes what you
>talk about impossible without the mechanism of a legal mandate under
>which you as a parent of a gifted child could easily sue if a
>degradation you think is bad for your child happens in these special
>classes (just as it is for the parents of children in those special
>classes for the opposite end of the giftedness spectrum)?
My apologies if I am not reading your response correctly but why
would one expect a degradation in such classes? That degradation
occurs because of inappropriate assumptions of inability and lack of
appropriate direct instruction and more routine practice than regular
students need to achieve comparable level of competence but at an
appropriate pace for the child. It would seem as if the analogy
would be to pace the classes too fast (which I do not believe would
be the case) and an assumption of too great of an assumption of an
ability to discover that which it took geniuses centuries - even
millennia - to discover (which probably would be the
case). "Mainstreaming" to an outrageous level - instead of running
those lower courses appropriately - degrades the education of the
masses as well as those at the high-end who deserve to be
appropriately taught and challenged by their peers instead of, at
best, being used by them to be taught what should've been taught in
the classes themselves.
Much easier than special classes, however, is simple advancement of
students who can handle the material at a faster pace and easily fill
in any needed missing pieces. Of course, the misconception of
democracy requires mainstreaming (i.e., holding back to inevitable
boredom) them as well.
Wayne
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