Schools Debate: Gifted And Talented, Or Racist And Elitist?
Newsy
Parents in New York are voicing their concerns that the gifted and talented program in the city might be discriminatory against kids of color.
Communities across the United States are reconsidering their approach to gifted and talented programs in schools as vocal parents blame such elite programs for worsening racial segregation and inequities in the country's education system.
A plan announced by New York City's mayor to phase out elementary school gifted and talented programs in the country's largest school district — if it proceeds — would be among the most significant developments yet in a push that extends from Boston to Seattle and that has stoked passions and pain over race, inequality and access to a decent education.
From the start, gifted and talented school programs drew worries they would produce an educational caste system in U.S. public schools. Many of the exclusive programs trace their origins to efforts to stanch "white flight" from public schools, particularly in diversifying urban areas, by providing high-caliber educational programs that could compete with private or parochial schools.
