Thread by @michaelharriot

As someone who was in an G&T program, here’s what’s wrong with this take and MOST gifted and talented programs:

A thread.

https://twitter.com/informnyc/status/1446436531498070016

First of all, we have to understand the difference between what these programs are SUPPOSED to do and what they actually do.

If there was a program that identified and challenged students who are actually gifted and/or talented, that would be a great thing… MAYBE

But these programs don’t do that. What they actually do is take a set of privileged kids and give them an educational advantage that lasts their entire life.

How?

First, let’sask ourselves: “who are these so-called ‘gifted and talented’ students?”

Good question:

How the hell do you determine that a KINDERGARTNER is gifted, and why is it that whites & Asians make up 40% of kindergartners but 80% of the gifted & talented?

Are they smarter? Or they harder workers? There MUST be some correlation!

Wait, I think I found something

That’s right. NYC’s “gifted& talented population correlates almost EXACTLY with the top 10% of income earners in the city.

But it’s not JUST wealth, there’s 1 other element.

See If you wanted to know which kids were the fastest, you could make them all run 100 meters.

Since they all run the same distance, you have an objective test.
But how do you test kindergartners to see which ones are the smartest?

Well here is the thing about G&T tests: they don’t objectively measure “giftedness” or talent. Most of them measure language & preparation

So if you’re from a family that speaks the same kind of English they use during the test (the way white people speak) then you have an advantage—EVEN if your Black/Latino/immigrant household is well educated.

Why?

Because MOST non-white ppl don’t talk that way among each other

So there are brilliant bilingual kids who score WORSE on these tests than mediocre white kids.

Plus, wealthier families hire tutors and pay for prep programs to prepare their kids for the tests.

But what about the Asian families?

Well…

As you can see, these tests don’t quantify ABILITY, they quantify PREPARATION, which can be achieved with money.

But I could be wrong. After all, I’m just a nigga on Twitter saying things. Maybe you should listen to someone who knows things.

All states don’t do it this way. Kids can also get into the gifted programs AFTER kindergarten. Take Minnesota for instance. How do they select their kids?

That’s right, it’s either testing, teacher recommendation or parents. Here is a bitter truth that we have to accept:

White teachers are not good at teaching Black kids

Again, this is NOT my opinion. EVERY SINGLE TIME researchers study this issue, they reach the same conclusion

Take a Yale study, for instance. They asked teachers which students caused the most trouble. The white teachers singled out the Black kids. But when they used eye tracking technology, they discovered why the teachers felt this way

THEY WERE ALWAYS WATCHING THE BLACK KIDS!

Or the government report that shows Black kids are disciplined more harshly for the same offenses “at every educational, economic and discipline level.”

theroot.com/government-stu…

Or how about the American University Education researchers and the John Hopkins Exonomics team that found that white teachers think Black kids aren’t college material

Or my favorite one, when they asked teachers to grade 2nd graders writing and the white teachers somehow graded the student with a brother named “Deshawn” more harshly than students with a brother named Connor.

Seriously, that happened.

No wonder why Gifted programs are so white!

Do you think these teachers recommend black kids to gifted & talented programs?

I’mma end with the story of how I got in the gifted program called “ALERT”

When I entered public school at 12, after a battery of tests, skipped a grade

One day, I was called to the office. They wanted me to take another test. I did.

They called me back the next week and made me take another one.

The following week, another one.

I assumed I was taking all of the tests I’d missed from grade 1-5 when I was homeschooled.

One day, they called me to the guidance counselors office. My mom was there, the guidance counselor & the asst. principal and a BUNCH of white dudes. I knew I was in trouble

The asst principal was my mom’s friend’s husband. they called him “Bae” so I knew him as uncle Bae.

My mom seemed puzzled. Uncle Bae did too. Uncle Bae was an ex marine & knew karate, so if he was worried, I was worried AF.

So they began talking to me in the soft voice white people use on Fist 48 when they’re trying to get you to confess.

“Just tell us how you did it.”

Did what? I didn’t know what was going on. “Did you have someone helping you?” They asked. “Was it Mr. Thomas?”

I had no clue what they were talking about. I didn’t even know no goddamned “Mr. Thomas!” (I later learned that was Uncle Bae’s real name).

So they finally came out and accused me of having an answer key to the tests. Not ONE TEST…

ALL THE TESTS!

It wasn’t until they said it was a crime that I realized we were being interrogated. Was I going to jail? I was ‘bout to cry. (Which is different from “almost in tears.”)

My mom was already crying.

Uncle Bae was crying so hard, he had to cover his face. He was shaking & snot was coming out of his nose (not the thick snot like when you have a cold-the clear snot, like when you have the Holy Ghost).

I swore “tuh God” that I didn’t cheat.

My mom couldn’t even look at them, she was crying so hard but she was wiping her tears. Uncle Bae finally uncovered his face. I hoped he was about to unleash some karate & free us. I prepared to run. But he didn’t chop anyone in the throat. He wasn’t even crying!

He was laughing! My mama was, too! Bae snatched the paper and looked at it and was like: “Wait. He did good…Like I TOLD YALL HE WOULD!”

It’s not like I broke the tests. Apparently, they thought that I would be behind because I was home schooled.

And It was easier for them to believe i cheated than to believe I just did well.

After they offered everyone some of those brown paper towels to away their Holy Ghost snot, I changed teachers & they put me in the ALERT class. I was the only Black kid in the class.

And the funny thing was, the other kids weren’t any more gifted or talented than any of my Black friends. Most of them couldn’t even clap on beat. But from 6th grade until I graduated high school, those were the same classmates in the honors curriculum, the AP classes etc.

By the time I was a senior in High school, we were all pretty good friends because most of our core classes were together. When we took the SATs, I mentioned that we had an advantage because we had to take all those tests to get in the honors program. And they were like:

“What tests?

I figured they had forgotten all those ALERT tests way back in elementary school but no one had any idea what I was talking about.

“Nah,” my friend Tucker said. “My mom just called up to the school.”

And that’s why being gifted and/or talented is a scam.

But if this is so well known, why do G&T even exist?

Well, imagine you had more money & resources than 90% of the people around you. How would you create a system that passed down the same competitive advantage?

Easy.

Just CALL THEM “gifted” or “talented” and it becomes true.