Why gifted education misses out

Jay Matthews:

Frederick M. Hess's long essay in the latest issue of the quarterly National Affairs pleased those of us who share the American Enterprise Institute scholar's dislike for politicians' fixation on closing the achievement gap. Reducing the gap sounds good until you realize that means it is okay for high achievers to stagnate so that low achievers can catch up.

I have been venting about this for several years and getting only puzzled looks. Hess's piece -- the most detailed and vehement ever on the subject -- will hopefully lead to more discussion of better ways to deal with the different average achievement levels of poor kids and affluent kids.

I think we have borrowed language from another issue, the income gap, and shoved it into the education debate, where it doesn't belong. Making money and learning about the world are not similar enterprises. If someone accumulates $1 billion and spends it on Rolls-Royces and gold bathroom fixtures, that is very different from fixating on learning something new about solar energy and making the world a cleaner place.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 18, 2011 1:30 AM
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