酷我-北美枫

[Wenxin]

Gifted Program a Mixed Blessing

If someone were to see me on the street, they might think "Chinese". In Chinatown, where Chinese are everywhere, I am a "teen". And in my own school, where there is a sizeable population of Chinese teens, people would look at me and think... "Giftie".

Conceptually, the Gifted program is supposed to choose, with an I. Q. test, the most intelligent students and place them in a separate class, enriched by extra funding, special teachers and a modified curriculum. For better or for worse, however, it's much more than that.

Firstly, the students in the Gifted class are not there because they are hard workers, or because they study well, or even because they are good students; they have been chosen for their ability to absorb information quickly. In fact, my class prides itself in its ability to pass exams without doing assignments, without studying, and often without taking notes. This approach worked well in primary school, worked okay in junior high, and, well, flops onto its face in high school. The volume of information we are required to know has exceeded what we can cram into our heads in a single night. I look up at the colleges and universities, and then I look down at my horrid work habits, and I am afraid. I am very afraid.

Unfortunately, regardless of how afraid I am, my peers expect me to read five books a day, write mathematical treatises in my spare time, and regularly donate apples to my teachers. I am not at all ashamed to say that I do none of these. The label, however, seems branded into my forehead. When someone finds that I am a "Giftie", a rift inevitably forms between the two of us... I am expected to be different, arrogant, uninterested in the same things as other teens- an adult in disguise. When I do find friends outside my class, we are inevitably separated within several years when we graduate to different schools, he to a nearby one and I to a "Gifted" one much farther away.

That is not to say, of course, that the program is unnecessary or superfluous; it is simply both good and bad. Through it, I have met many talented individuals, some of which have enormous potential. The extra material and unique environment will certainly help these students to achieve their goals. As for myself, I simply cross my fingers, close my eyes, and hope that the readers of my college transcript will skim over my grades, see the word "Gifted", and place as much weight on that as my peers and teachers have in the past.

(North York Mirror, January 10, 2003)

[[许文辛]]

Gifted Program a Mixed Blessing

If someone were to see me on the street, they might think "Chinese". In Chinatown, where Chinese are everywhere, I am a "teen". And in my own school, where there is a sizeable population of Chinese teens, people would look at me and think... "Giftie".

Conceptually, the Gifted program is supposed to choose, with an I. Q. test, the most intelligent students and place them in a separate class, enriched by extra funding, special teachers and a modified curriculum. For better or for worse, however, it's much more than that.

Firstly, the students in the Gifted class are not there because they are hard workers, or because they study well, or even because they are good students; they have been chosen for their ability to absorb information quickly. In fact, my class prides itself in its ability to pass exams without doing assignments, without studying, and often without taking notes. This approach worked well in primary school, worked okay in junior high, and, well, flops onto its face in high school. The volume of information we are required to know has exceeded what we can cram into our heads in a single night. I look up at the colleges and universities, and then I look down at my horrid work habits, and I am afraid. I am very afraid.

Unfortunately, regardless of how afraid I am, my peers expect me to read five books a day, write mathematical treatises in my spare time, and regularly donate apples to my teachers. I am not at all ashamed to say that I do none of these. The label, however, seems branded into my forehead. When someone finds that I am a "Giftie", a rift inevitably forms between the two of us... I am expected to be different, arrogant, uninterested in the same things as other teens- an adult in disguise. When I do find friends outside my class, we are inevitably separated within several years when we graduate to different schools, he to a nearby one and I to a "Gifted" one much farther away.

That is not to say, of course, that the program is unnecessary or superfluous; it is simply both good and bad. Through it, I have met many talented individuals, some of which have enormous potential. The extra material and unique environment will certainly help these students to achieve their goals. As for myself, I simply cross my fingers, close my eyes, and hope that the readers of my college transcript will skim over my grades, see the word "Gifted", and place as much weight on that as my peers and teachers have in the past.

(North York Mirror, January 10, 2003)

[晓鸣]

据rolia.net一位家长告诉我, 这篇文章近两年被Cummer Valley MS的gifted英语课指定为阅读材料. 这里发的是原稿, 与发表在报纸上的稍有差异.

[[自己的敌人]]

据rolia.net一位家长告诉我, 这篇文章近两年被Cummer Valley MS的gifted英语课指定为阅读材料. 这里发的是原稿, 与发表在报纸上的稍有差异.