That is Rod Dreher. It should be recalled that this was school was in part the dream of the first Republican Governor of Louisiana since reconstruction. That was Dave Treen.
As Rod notes while many children have the magnet schools in the more urban Parishes rural kids do not have not option. It is something to be proud of and we we protect at all cost.
See his letter to the Advocate here and his further thoughts here at his own site at Gifted education
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Major Conservative Voice Writes Against Cuts To Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts
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3 comments:
I don't even like math and science -- but I agree we should keep the school as it is. In a state known for its bad public schools, why are they considering cuts to one of the shining stars of Louisiana's school systems?
Yeah it is ahining star and something to be proud of. I have to think common sense wilol prevail
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that it will. I've seen the push in other states and cities to cut back in gifted education -- and the sad thing is that often that push succeeds. No Child Left Behind emphasizes improvement in test scores. A gifted student already scoring in the 99th percentile of every standardized test can't make much "progress" in the sense that NCLB counts. So it's easy to leave the gifted kids behind and focus the time and money on average or below-average students who are likely to make "progress" and raise the school's scores.
I didn't go to high school in Louisiana, but if I had, you can bet that I would have applied to the Louisiana School. I scored high enough on the ACT in 8th grade (yes, 8th grade) to reach the criteria for admission to many solid colleges. I proceeded to spend high school bored out of my mind, even in the "advanced" and AP courses, and teased mercilessly. The only thing high school really did for me was raise my ACT score a few points -- but honestly, even my 8th-grade ACT score was good enough to get me into many solid colleges, and high school just sort of seemed like a waste.
We need to spend more resources on gifted education. It is the gifted students who are out there making new scientific discoveries, winning Pulitzer Prizes, or becoming governor (like Jindal). We shouldn't short the gifted students... Especially not in a state where the public school systems are ranked close to the bottom nationally.
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