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Comment by huxley | Hacker News Reader

That 20% you quote covers a wide range of programs which apply to a substantial percentage of all students not just the disabled.

But why screw with the disabled and learning challenged when there is the other 79.5% of the funding you are ignoring? Or the fact that massive funds are spent on standardized testing which can be so difficult that high-achieving adults have trouble passing them?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/2011/1...

The talented and gifted students don't really need much help in school. Often the best thing you can do is get out of their way, perhaps offer them some organizational skills, but those should be offered to all students. I got more from that in school than any other instruction offered.

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"The talented and gifted students don't really need much help in school."

That couldn't be further from the truth. Every study shows that T&G students need more interaction and more guidance than other students to ensure their increased appetite for knowledge is met. Otherwise, they become bored and disinterested. If you read the Steve Jobs bio, it's a great example of what happens when a gifted kid isn't taught properly

Let them enroll in community college then. Here in WA it is possible to get an AA/AS as you graduate HS, and not attend the last two years of HS. IMO the first two years HS is very, very necessary for a somewhat decent social development of young people though.

Compared to the kids you're trying to take money from, the gifted kids will do just fine, thank you.

I'm sure they will do fine, but are we maximizing their potential? I don't think I was especially gifted, but I did feel like my school pandered overwhelmingly to the worst students. I had an interest in programming and made some QBasic games, but got stuck while transitioning to C and I lost interest until college where I got the mentorship I needed. My school's only computer class taught Microsoft Word. In college, I met people who had family in software or better schools and I can see how it helped them develop their interest better.

Now, I'm a professional programmer so of course I'm just fine. But I think I might be even more accomplished if I had a little more help in high school (today's internet might have also sufficed). I think the real super geniuses might not be held back, but I think there are lot of cases like me where you have less than genius but above average intelligence that could accomplish a lot more if challenged a little more.

The description you give of yourself is by most common educational definitions not "gifted" (135 IQ or top 2% on standardized tests), so we are back to the point that "gifted" kids find their success just fine. Everyone could achieve more with more investment. So, now what? Should gifted, advanced, mainstream, and disabled fight each other for funding, or maybe fight pure waste like Iraq War for funding?

What happens? He becomes the most beloved billionaire in history? I don't think Steve Jobs needed more help.

You obviously didn't read the book. His parents had to move to get him a proper education.

Every study shows

I would appreciate citations to any study you can cite for interested readers here. There seem to be quite a few comments on this issue in this subthread, so let's all check sources together.

> Or the fact that massive funds are spent on standardized testing which can be so difficult that high-achieving adults have trouble passing them?

Did you look at the test? He may be considered "high-achieving", but don't you wonder what he's missing by being innumerate?

> Did you look at the test?

Here's one HN thread, with links to a Florida test.

(http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3327847)

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