Were you in the "Gifted Program" ?

Maybe we are part of an experiment. Someone earlier mentioned star children. Are we improved stock meant to breed some intelligence into a world where 1 in 5 Americans cannot locate themselves on a world map? A world where with 26 letters in the alphabet and 13 years of school (2 letters per year) we still have illiteracy in the US.

Are we an intelligensia reserve meant to repopulate a soon to be depopulated Earth?

I haven't had an antibiotic since I was 10 years old, 20+ years ago. What kind of health do you other posters have?

Nah, not me. I was gifted, but was having too much fun to care. But I was in an experimental girls gym class of only 8 girls though. We were called Ms so and so's (insert gym teachers name) jockettes. I can remember one of my classmates being nicknamed Amazon woman. Lord knows what I was nicknamed... Yes we were a rough and tough bunch of gals. When we walked out on a field, all heads woud turn in interest. Tackle football, gymnastics, weight lifting to the max of the equipment etc... I even out ran the schools fastest track member. But you wouldn't catch me wasting after school fun time for track. Bleh... I can even remember the swim coach watching me from up above quite often. ( I could dive half the length of an olympic sized pool in one jump from the side of the pool. ) And I was like, dream on buddy... Oh and we were always kept together throughout many years. Some gals in our group used to seriously tell me not to drink the water. Anyways I was appreciative of the extra opportunities we got.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention this. But one of my 2 rare genetic disorders make me gain muscle mass really easily. A textbook description of those with my problem is herculean. It was a nice perk when younger.

Nope - I never was in the program. (I was reading at college level in grade school - couldn't spell though).

However, for about a year, I did attend a "test" school run by one of the top research universities.

I would expect a lot of gifted students to post on ATS. It's one of the few places with deep topics.

I was not in "gifted", but I had an advanced library of books in the bottom of my locker in 8th grade that my English teacher thought was awesome. Sometimes in study hall, he'd stop by my table to see what I was studying that day. I was so bored with my traditional studies. In high school, I slacked, but I always knew I was different and smarter than most.

I still struggle to fit in and am used to being teased by those who don't understand. A lot of the time, I just keep what I know to myself. I guess I've learned that I'm not acceptable in my true form. I love coming here because you folks "get it". I feel like I belong for the first time.

My daughter was in "gifted" and got kicked out! She developed a way to "work" the accelerated reader program to her advantage. Her home room teacher was livid and insisted that she was not gifted if she had to cheat. The gifted program teacher took me aside and told me her hands were tied (the home room teacher had been there forever and had pull), but the gifted teacher felt that my daughter had shown the extent of her giftedness by her manipulation of the system. Even she was impressed with the skill my daughter showed in developing her "system for achievement".

It would be interesting if every poster in the gifted program would tell us if they graduated college and what they graduated in.

Originally posted by lacrimosa
lol well so much for the 'gifted' program. seems like everyone was invited. and yes i as a child was told i was gifted and taken aside to do tests. guess what, i'm as dumb as a box of frogs.
people will tell you your special, you might think youre special. but youre not.

I too, am dumb

I was in one of these programs. Frankly, I think that if they would actually make regular school half as interesting as that class was, we'd have a lot more people who like learning. It was the only class that actually had projects or anything even remotely engaging that I was ever involved in.

I was tested and put in a program in 4th grade...I don't remember it having a name. The elementary school I was in was very small and in a rural area, even though it was attached to a large district. There were only 2 or 3 of us in the program and it consisted of having to be separated from our classmates part of the day and doing work on our own...no teacher or anything.....wow I hated it....I refused to the work, so back to regular class they sent me. When I entered high school, the 80's I guess things changed in the district...no more special classes, so I took the honors courses where available. My interests where more artistic though, so I dropped science and math when my credits were met and took all art classes.

Didn't go to college until after my children were born...I wanted to go out and work and live....idiot.

Youth is wasted on the young.

back when i was in school, the gifted or special childern rode the little yellow school bus.
and the egg heads, went to honors classes.
us smart kids found the easiest way we could to goof off or skip school.

Originally posted by hounddoghowlie
back when i was in school, the gifted or special childern rode the little yellow school bus.
and the egg heads, went to honors classes.
us smart kids found the easiest way we could to goof off or skip school.

edit on 2-6-2012 by hounddoghowlie because: (no reason given)

I never thought about that. Maybe we were just the school idiots and they told us stuff to make us feel good. The tests were to see if we were even smart enough to go to public school.

Hmmm?

reply to post by Roundtree


Yes, at my elementary school in 89/90 I was part of the gifted program. My fourth grade teacher used to hate that I was pulled out of regular class time to go to the portable with the other kids and do stuff with legos and building blocks.

To be honest, a little follow through would have been nice...a magnet program, a fast tract in middle school/high school, etc.

What, then, would have been the point of such a class if not to get some sort of separate schooling? Granted, we moved and perhaps it didn't exist where we moved to (in AZ). But, I mean, to be honest, in high school, when I was slacking in classes, bored, not interested, etc., I kept thinking to myself how badly I've done because I had such a promising future (supposedly) being that I was in that program early on. It must have done things to my esteem. A high followed by a low (but that could have been my family situation, too).

So, I see where you are going with "keeping tabs" but I'm one to shy away from "grand conspiracies". I think conspiracies are less ubiquitous and more nefarious when they do occur. It might seem tantilizing to think that there is a group of people who segregated and cataloged us out of the general population to make sure we wouldn't amount to anything that "rocks the boat" of the status quo, but such micromanaging of so many people's lives seems a bit overburdening on a reasonable level of resources (both financial and human - you'd have to employ people to keep tabs on other people?).

reply to post by Roundtree


Yup, I was in it throughout all my years in school ..elementary through graduation. The biggest thing we accomplished was changing the name of it from GAT (gifted and talented) to TAG (talented and gifted) because GAT sounded like a cat hacking up a hairball and we didn't like it.
Otherwise, it was the "enrichment approach" as opposed to the "acceleration approach" and basically meant we did more work than anyone else and were extremely bored with it

I was part of a "talent" program, but that's not the same thing as you're explaining here. What I was part of was for kids who had some apparent potential but their parents never finished college. They offered help and grants. I did all the normal tests that everyone did and showed no giftedness beyond average as far as I can tell. My IQ is average. I got more problems than things in my favor. In any case, "talent" programs can mean a lot of things if this is any indication.

Our culture in the past 30 years has this idea that everyone should win. It's wrong. Kids that really shouldn't be given help are being given help. To sum it all up, God helps those who help themselves. Is just true. If you do the work and show up on time and enjoy the things you do to improve yourself, the pieces fall into place. Never expect someone else to make you successful.

I was in the "gifted program."

Nowadays, I work in graphic design/advertising/marketing with side work in gov'ment interest electromagnetic lift devices, among a wide array of other inventions.

it was called the GATE program at my school

i was in from 1st to 6th grade in the 80's

I was part of the mentally gifted program in Philadelphia. We called it simply MG (no fancy name). I was pulled out and tested in kindergarten. In elementary school it was very fun and we learned about all kinds of things. The topics covered were varied. We learned politics/government, architecture (I still know what a flying buttress is!), music, art, greek/roman mythology, how to use computers (this is in the late 80s). In 6th grade when we went to middle school MG became a bit more focused. There were only three topics. Fine arts, Computer programming and Environmental science.

I actually met my wife in MG. We met in 6th grade in the MG program during the first day of fine arts. Most of the kids who did well in the fine arts classes went on to be artists (my wife is one of them). I actually hate art because the fine arts teacher didn't like me very much. She was a very vocal lesbian (which i never minded) who hated the fact that I was always very flirty with girls in class. I wasn't disruptive during her discourse, but when we were assigned work I would chat a lot with girls. She would lock me in the supply closet for hours. And of course, being that this was the early 90's and America still had respect for teachers, no one believed me!!!!!

In high school MG wasn't fun anymore. It was just extra homework for no grade and no more getting pulled out of class for a day to learn cool things. It was all after school, LAME.

Anyhow, back to MG being a conspiracy... nah... doesn't make sense. I believe it was a way to keep the really smart kids from not being bored 5 days a week, only 4. The classes were challenging and the content interesting. While I can see why TPTB may want to identify the intelligencia at an early age to keep tabs, I can't believe it. Maybe i don't want to because of all the wonderful experiences i had (less that awful art teacher) to be tainted by some nefarious hidden agenda. Plus, without that program I may never have met my wife. We didn't date until we were 23 but have been friends since day 1 back in 6th grade.

just adding on...
I have tourettes, not the swearing out loud type, mostly facial ticks and sounds... anyway, my parents were very concerned and took me to many different doctors (this was before it was well known and it took a while to figure it out). My first grade teacher relieved them a great deal by telling them I had the highest IQ that ever went through the first grade in the district. (not bragging, just saying). I was also a member of MENSA as an adult, but got bored with it and 'dropped out'.
Are there others who were in the gifted program who also have neurological issues such as tourettes, or similar such as Lupus, fibromyalgia, MS? I'm lucky enough to have tourettes, Lupus and fibro as well as ADHD, my older sister has MS. I still work full time though (teaching now, University and HS) and will until I can no longer function at all.
Curious about a possible relation between the disorders and the IQ thing.

Originally posted by QQXXw
It would be interesting if every poster in the gifted program would tell us if they graduated college and what they graduated in.

BA - Spanish Lit
BA - Linguistic Anthropology
MA - Linguistics

One of the reasons I think they singled me out for gifted was my penchant for language. Unfortunately, and I take some responsibility here, unless you're satisfied with teaching or go through the right career choices for translation, interpreter, government, etc., there's not many job openings for simply being a "polyglot" unless you do your research and have the right connections. I mean, an Engineer who is fluent in a second language can get a lucrative engineering position; a person who can speak several languages fluently, but has no practical or scientific skill, per se, cannot just be an engineer or marine biologist or architect...it's lopsided.

I think that's why I went into linguistics (keeping in mind you don't have to speak a foreign language to study linguistics, but it does help)...it's a practical science with more doors that can be opened, if anything in research.

Ironically, I was also very fascinated with engineering/mechanics and electronics. Not sure what happened really, but through my freshman year of highschool, I excelled at science and math, but for some reason (probably an increasingly unstable home environment) I ended up nearly failing advanced biology my sophomore year of HS (ironic again, because I was placed in AP bio because of my excelling the year before)...after that I was just an average student in the math and science classes I took, mostly because I didn't do my homework and showed up late or called out sick a lot. It's unfortunate because I'm good at math...well, as they say, it's never too late to go (back) to college...haha.

There are advanced programs and im sure some areas have better options for "gifted" kids.
But the amount of people in this thread and the stories being told just make this thread sound like some fantasy circle jerk. Did they tell you that you have magical powers too? Did you try out for the quidditch team too?
lol sorry but seriously some of the stories...

I guess tax payer money is lacking only for the normal kids in america.

reply to post by Sphota


I had an odd mix too. I absolutely hated language though as well as history at the time. I was very adept in math and science, but also in art, which was a strange mix in their opinion. I had to decide between majors when I got to college because....ummm... I'm a little lazy LOL. I chose Math/Science over Art because I felt there was much more I could do with it. Not a lot of career openings in Art. Now, if they had the comuter graphics programs back in the day, that's probably what I would have went into, but I'm a bit old (undergrad 88-91).
Anybody else with a combination "left brain/right brain" thing going on?