Eliminating Gifted Programs Won’t Make Education Fair
Recently equity-minded education reformers in New York City have been trying to curtail “gifted and talented programs,” saying they “do not condone a program model that is predicated on the discriminatory idea of giftedness.” California’s Department of Education, the city of Seattle’s School Board, and others have expressed similar sentiments focusing on how discriminatory policies — like “gifted and talented” programs — will only exacerbate inequality in education.
But getting rid of gifted and talented programs is a bad idea. The result would be an even larger divide between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Cutting access to gifted education programs won’t level the playing field; it will only tilt the game in favor of the wealthy.
Families that can afford to, will switch schools in order to ensure that their children are still challenged in the classroom. It should come as no surprise that families with financial means will go and find educational opportunities for their children if they feel that their child is losing a formative part of their school day. However, students from families without financial means, don’t have the luxury to leave public schools entirely when they are lacking suitable resources.
