Gifted children are special needs children • Hacker News Board

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#31

Post by JohnBooty » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

Y_Y wrote: post #3

But that's a different meaning of "need" to what's normally used. Gifted kids don't need special attention to get through school and life the same way the intellectually impaired do. It's much better in the sense, that if they will survive and probably not even cause a fuss if you treat them like the lowest common denominator. It's worse in the sense that you're unlikely to get a strong signal, but without special tr…

    Gifted kids don't need special attention to get 
    through school and life the same way the intellectually 
    impaired do.

This is very false in my experience.

I sometimes struggled in regular classes as a young kid, because it was so painfully boring to move at the same, slower speed as the other kids. It was like trying to watch a movie at 0.25x speed. I wasn't just "not reaching my potential", I was missing out on chunks of learning. I almost don't know what the counterargument is: we... shouldn't match education to a child's learning speed and other needs?

(And for the record, I wasn't crazy gifted in terms of IQ. More like top X%, not top 0.X%)

The ability to thrive and work with others who don't know as much about $FIELD as you do is, of course, an incredibly valuable life skill. Both socially and professionally. Whether you're a plumber or doctor or cashier then you by definition know more about your job than others. But I absolutely don't think forcing young kids to sit through learning at 0.25x or 0.5x or 0.75x their "natural" speed is the way to do it.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#32

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #6

It's crazy to me that there is so much pushback to ending a program for "gifted" kindergarteners . I'd say it's great for 4-5 year olds to be able to do...normal children things rather than have their lives ruined by their helicopter "my child is special" parents.

[deleted]

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#33

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:56 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #32

paxys wrote: post #6

It's crazy to me that there is so much pushback to ending a program for "gifted" kindergarteners . I'd say it's great for 4-5 year olds to be able to do...normal children things rather than have their lives ruined by their helicopter "my child is special" parents.

[deleted]

[deleted]

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#34

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:57 PM UTC

austin-cheney wrote: post #2

This talk about high performers and low performers needing focused environments to perform gets me thinking about the scenario of putting them together. I know this is not what the article is suggesting, but the thought is still there. This reminds me of conversations between the two ends of the Dunning-Kruger spectrum. In DK low performing people tend to vastly over-estimate their capabilities because their frame of…

[deleted]

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#35

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:57 PM UTC

Gabriel54 wrote: post #28

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #13

Greetings fellow travelers [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twice_exceptional ---- In response to OP's link, my suggestion to primary schools would be to scrap the G/T programs, and instead focus on reducing class-sizes. You should also remove any students from classrooms whom routinely distract from others' learning. Give those timesinks a broom, instead.

> You should also remove any students from classrooms whom routinely distract from others' learning. A good idea but not practically possible in any district, unfortunately.

Yep. My child was just accepted into a G&T program; it replaces gym period once a week, and I believe the teacher is responsible for all the G&T classes in the entire district (3 elementary schools, 1 middle, 1 high) - so if she stopped teaching G&T and started teaching an additional class, it would help exactly one school's grade level. Maybe better than nothing, but not by much.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#36

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:57 PM UTC

energy123 wrote: post #25

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #13

Greetings fellow travelers [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twice_exceptional ---- In response to OP's link, my suggestion to primary schools would be to scrap the G/T programs, and instead focus on reducing class-sizes. You should also remove any students from classrooms whom routinely distract from others' learning. Give those timesinks a broom, instead.

Why does scrapping G/T programs have anything to do with reducing class sizes? You can do both at the same time, there is no reason to believe they are competing ideas.

They are very much competing for funding; reducing class sizes necessarily means hiring more teachers, which requires more budget.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#37

Post by ProllyInfamous » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:58 PM UTC

energy123 wrote: post #25

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #13

Greetings fellow travelers [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twice_exceptional ---- In response to OP's link, my suggestion to primary schools would be to scrap the G/T programs, and instead focus on reducing class-sizes. You should also remove any students from classrooms whom routinely distract from others' learning. Give those timesinks a broom, instead.

Why does scrapping G/T programs have anything to do with reducing class sizes? You can do both at the same time, there is no reason to believe they are competing ideas.

Yes, you can accomplish both programs. However, the limitation has to do with funding constraints.

src: attended public schools in G/T programs (IMHO: "normal" and "G/T" kids benefit from being taught together, in smaller classrooms)

src2: attended college on a full teaching scholarship (am no longer teaching) — "taught"[1] the classes with behavior problems

[1] Babysat; I was made the bad kids teacher because I was a tall footballer that didn't take shit from physically abusive bullies. I never beat a kid up (although many friends have, deservedly) but definitely restrained a few.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#38

Post by incognito124 » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:58 PM UTC

austin-cheney wrote: post #2

This talk about high performers and low performers needing focused environments to perform gets me thinking about the scenario of putting them together. I know this is not what the article is suggesting, but the thought is still there. This reminds me of conversations between the two ends of the Dunning-Kruger spectrum. In DK low performing people tend to vastly over-estimate their capabilities because their frame of…

While interesting in itself, I don't see how both groups would benefit from such an arrangement

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#39

Post by cardanome » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:58 PM UTC

austin-cheney wrote: post #2

This talk about high performers and low performers needing focused environments to perform gets me thinking about the scenario of putting them together. I know this is not what the article is suggesting, but the thought is still there. This reminds me of conversations between the two ends of the Dunning-Kruger spectrum. In DK low performing people tend to vastly over-estimate their capabilities because their frame of…

Do you consider yourself one of those people for those " the negative space in a conversation is just words in a different form"?

Where is that take even coming from? Communication styles are very cultural. Japanese is very subtext-heavy while German is very direct. Are Japanese people more intelligent than German people?

Furthermore it depends on how your brain is wired. Autistic people prefer direct communication while allistic (that means non-autistic) people rely more on context.

Personally, I prefer people that are more direct. People that read crap into stuff that was never said grind my gears so much. It creates so much unnecessary drama.

The claim that one form of communication is same sign of being a "high performer" is completely insane.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#40

Post by svara » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 2:58 PM UTC

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #13

Greetings fellow travelers [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twice_exceptional ---- In response to OP's link, my suggestion to primary schools would be to scrap the G/T programs, and instead focus on reducing class-sizes. You should also remove any students from classrooms whom routinely distract from others' learning. Give those timesinks a broom, instead.

> You should also remove any students from classrooms whom routinely distract from others' learning.

Might very well be the bored gifted ones...