For two years during elementary school, our sons were part of a GT (Gifted and Talented) program called “Project Challenge”, which allowed students to advance in several areas. When they got to middle school, the program stopped and that was a problem (for us). The two in this clip, David and Casey, were allowed to take an 8th-grade Algebra class during 7th-grade year — and were the top two students in the class.
When we approached the school to question their plans for math for the 8th-grade year, the teacher explained that repetition was good, i.e. they were going to allow them to RE-TAKE the class.
Unacceptable….
“You don’t hold back students like these two. They are the top two students in your class. They do not need to repeat it.”
Joan and I met with the principal, who, at one point, angrily pounded his fist (literally) on the desk and barked,
“I am so sick of parents pushing their kids.”
“We’re not pushing him. We just want to make sure there are not walls blocking his path.”
We objected long and loud enough (plus Casey’s parents were a teacher and a principal) that they agreed to bus these two to the high school every day, where they took two math courses that year. (That is the case started a year ago, as mentioned in the clip.)
During Freshman year, David was coming home complaining about a Spanish class he was taking. He didn’t like the “stupid” techniques they were using to learn vocabulary. At a parent-teacher conference, the teacher said he was causing disturbances in class with his lack of participation. We asked the teacher if he was bored in class.
“Absolutely he is bored.”
The teacher worked with us and school administrators to transfer David from Spanish I to Spanish IV. It took him a short while to catch up, but he loved it and soared.
By Sophomore year they were taking calculus and were invited to come to senior awards night to receive the high school’s top math recognitions.
Out of high school math options, and before it was more readily available, David was allowed to go to the local university for an advanced math class junior year. When the professor objected, the high school teachers said,
“Just let him take the class. He’ll be fine”.
When the college students, thinking he looked too young to be there, asked him what year he was in, David’s response was “Junior year”.
A few weeks into the college class, the professor accused David of cheating. He wasn’t doing the work to show the answers he was coming up with.
When confronted, David asked,
“Is the goal to do the work or to solve the problem?”
Unconvinced that he could get the answers the way he was, he watched David solve some problems, concluding that …
“I don’t know how he is doing it, but he is doing it.”
By the end of the semester, the professor was inviting David to take an even higher-level college class.
The week prior to a big performance, the show choir toured the middle schools. Students were expected to make up their work. There was a grading period ending and one of David’s teachers asked him to make sure he got a particular assignment completed, recognizing that,
“You and I both know that if there is a negative impact to your grade that your parents will be in here.”
The only teacher or administrator that we confronted angrily was that fist-banging middle school principal. We were persistent, however, especially when we felt one of our sons was being held back or prevented from excelling because of convenience or policy.
Something I’ve said multiple times over the years, usually when encouraging parents to advocate louder,
“The system worked for us — but we had to work the system.”
PS After graduating high school with a perfect, pre-weighted-grades GPA, and in the top 1% at Duke, David went to Ivy-League Penn where he paid $0 for his Ph.D. and is currently a teacher, coach and dean at one of, if not the highest-rated boarding school in the country. His brother is the Worship Pastor at a large church in Washington State.