Modern Mythology 2023, Eugene Jiang PD7 10/18/22

 Socio-political Consciousness

Whenever people think of inequity I feel like they often think of issues of racial or gender inequality because that’s what we’re often taught about in history lessons, but there’s a normalized form of inequity that I don’t think many people really take notice of. The concept of “gifted and talented” sets up a divide between children in a very early stage of their life. I feel like the words “gifted” and “talented” have no meaning without comparison,you cannot be “gifted” unless there are others who are not. By telling a child that they’re gifted, you are telling them that they are special, that they are better, which, from what I have learned in history, is how the basis of inequity forms. With racism it’s white people saying that they are naturally superior to non-whites, with sexism it was the belief that women were naturally inferior to men and now with academics where some children are naturally superior to other children. The strangest thing is that this belief is ingrained in our school systems. I remember that back in elementary and middle school, there were classes that were labeled as “gifted and talented” classes, reserved for those that scored exceptionally well academically. On the other side of the spectrum were the “zoned” classes that were for people who got into the school through the proximity of where they lived in relation to said school. The classification of these classes created a spectrum where the “gifted and talented” classes,obviously, were the smart kids, the zoned classes were the dumb kids, and then there was all the other classes in between the two. It paints a very black and white image that very much parallels past situations with the stratification of white men-colored men, male-not male, gifted-not-gifted, and to further draw the connection, gifted classes usually have more opportunities open to them than their counterparts. These opportunities often come in the form of higher level courses, better teachers, more favorable treatment from teachers, and access to additional resources. I would know from my experience with middle school where I was in what was considered the smartest class in the school and it was widely known that most teachers liked our class the most. On top of that, gifted and talented classes in our school were the only ones who can take algebra I, living environment, language classes, and their corresponding regents. Naturally, this gives us an unfair advantage because that means we open up more opportunities for classes in high school. I’ve also heard plenty of talk from other friends about how the teachers in their school don’t even teach and all I could say was, “Really? I’ve never had that happen.” The whole system just seems to favor the select few on the top while forsaking those below. The forsaken are never given a chance to climb up because nobody believed them capable. Forgive me if the analogy is too exaggerated, but I kind of see it as a white man saying that the black man is stupid then limiting their education and when the black man ends up being uneducated, the white man exclaims “see? I told you so.” 

I’m assuming that the concept of gifted and talented classes came from the idea that it would benefit these gifted students if they were put into an environment along with other like-minded individuals in order to challenge them, spark growth and have them realize their full potential. And I don’t disagree with that, challenge and competition certainly does encourage self-improvement, but there are things that I feel weren’t considered. In telling someone that they are special, you set a lot of pressure and expectation onto them and they will feel forced to meet those expectations in order to not disappoint those around them especially when considering that this concept is exposed to people at a young age when they’re most impressionable. The expectations create a self-sustaining loop where if the gifted child meets/exceeds the standard, which they often will early on because primary education  is meant to be simple, their self-esteem will increase through the praise that they receive along with the ever rising expectations. With each academic milestone, others will expect greater and greater things and the more the expectations grow, the more the gifted person will feel like they cannot afford to fail and ironically enough, it sets them up for failure. It simply isn’t realistic to expect to excel in everything, but that’s what the talented seek because they’re “special”, because they’re “gifted” and eventually when life comes to hit them in the face, they have all the more to fall. The saying goes that failure is the best teacher and when you have a bunch of kids who’ve avoided it all their life, they crumble the moment they fail. There’s greater shame in failing if you’re gifted because it then brings doubt to whether or not you were gifted in the first place. You either bloom under the pressure or fizzle out and fade into the shadows forgotten. So if we’re talking about inequity, I feel like the gifted and talented system is also unfair for its intended demographic. Most of these gifted students don’t choose to go down this path, they walk down it because that’s what they’re expected or told to do and once you walk far enough, there’s no return. If you’ve been treated as special your whole life, how do you go back to normal should you fail? If the gifted and talented system is unfair to people who aren’t “gifted” because it gives unfair opportunities to those who are, but the system is also unfair to the gifted in terms of the weight of expectations then what does that make the system?

As someone who grew up as a “gifted and talented” kid, I’m probably pretty biased on my take. I’ve only seen things from my own perspective and made assumptions based on my own experiences. For all I know, maybe people who weren’t in gifted and talented programs did get much of the same privileges that I did. Maybe the teachers that just didn’t teach in those other schools were a one off occurrence. Maybe my opinion on the mounting expectations for gifted and talented students are just that, my opinions, formed from what I’ve been through and I’m generalizing it to everyone else when it doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone. People might think it’s fair for gifted students to have higher expectations and I’m just hating on it because I have a personal bias. I wouldn’t know for certain, after all, I’m me and no one else. I cannot see from the point of view of someone who has lived a different experience because I haven’t lived that.