Welcome occasional blogger Lauren Young, a journalist whose son attends a New York City Universal Pre-K program.
Which is the smarter choice: To send your child to school with a lot of other bright kids, or to place her in a more mixed environment, with students of varied academic achievements? BusinessWeek recently named America’s Best High Schools in conjunction with Great Schools. Plenty of the finalists for the “Best Overall Academic Performance” award are special schools that draw the brightest kids in the area. Indeed, in New York, the top-ranking school on this list is New York City’s own Stuyvesant High School, which serves "academically gifted students” (who also happen to be terrific test-takers).
I understand the lure of gifted programs. But I’m also a firm believer in the notion that a rising tide lifts all boats. When schools pluck the most brilliant kids out of the educational system and lump them together, I think it creates a leadership void for the students who are left behind.
A few years ago, we moved to a neighborhood in Brooklyn because it had the locally zoned elementary school (P.S. 29) with an excellent academic reputation. Since our son began school last fall, I feel much more connected to our community. It’s virtually impossible to walk down the main drag in our neighborhood or go to the playground and not see folks we know from school. That’s why I ultimately opted not to sign up our son for the gifted and talented test. Even if my kid is “G&T,” I don’t want him attending a school miles away from our home. (It’s hard to believe, but not all parents think their children are geniuses, by the way.)
What’s your educational philosophy? Should smart kids be sifted out of the academic system, or is it better to mainstream bright kids with everyone else?
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