How Gifted Education Fuels Injustices
After the Supreme Court’s second hearing with the Fisher vs. UT-Austin case almost two weeks ago, debates about affirmative action and nature vs. nurture were revived.
“There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a slower-track school, where they do well,” Justice Scalia stated. Scalia’s assertion that Blacks would be better off if they did not gain admissions to higher ranking and White elite schools fueled what should be passe assertions and retired debates as we enter 2016.
This specific course case has strong connections to what is taking place in gifted education and Advanced Placement classes nationally. In their report on College and Career Readiness, the Office for Civil Rights indicated that White students are 49% of public schools yet 62% of gifted programs.
I have devoted some 25 years to ensuring that Black students have access to gifted education throughout the approximately 16,000 school districts. It is a national crisis, as told by these numbers. Black students represent 19% of the public schools population but only 10% of gifted programs. This discrepancy means that over 250,000 Black students have been denied access to gifted education annually. Such access and opportunity gaps contribute to the lack of racial diversity at elite colleges.
The Fisher vs. UT-Austin case interests me professionally and personally.
I am a product of low-income and urban schools, having grown up in Cleveland, Ohio. Unlike many of my Black classmates, teachers recognized my potential. I will never forget being in junior high school where administers and teachers spoke with me and my mother about how they needed to ‘save me’ from this specific school system by sending me to a private high school. I have always wondered why I was worth saving.How Gifted Education Fuels Injustices - Higher Education: