Introduction
Education of talented students in any school should be considered as a right not privilege. Education is considered as fundamental human right as per Act 445 of 1983 which is Quality of Education Act. According to the school’s mission, programs for gifted should be prescribed, sequential and made permanent part of the curriculum instead of considering it as an occasional frill. This is since gifted education incorporates culture, philosophy and social issues in an elaborate manner hence more stimulating intellectually.
Gifted education at the same time, allows students to grow academically by ensuring that they achieve their potential through provision of challenging and differentiated learning experiences. The mission as underlined considers gifted children as potential part of societal system, hence should be included in whatever is done to others so as to avoid negative impact on whole system (Clark, 2002).
Gifted education as a right
Gifted education should not be considered as an add-on program but crucial part of student’s total educational program. It grants children opportunity to receive most appropriate education for their intended needs. One major issue of concern is that gifted students may loose valuable class time for learning various activities capable of challenging their intellectual abilities in case the program is scrapped from curriculum.
There is need of exposing gifted children to advanced-level thinking processes which includes problem-solving and substantive discussions. Such dimensions would encourage use of critical thinking which majorly involves disciplined, logical thinking. Gifted students at the same time require teachers who ready to respect their abilities and challenge them into action and creativity (Gallagher and Gallagher, 1994).
Besides, gifted education has capacity of producing substantially long-term educational benefits within social and economic circles. This perspective should be encouraged to ensure that all children are apportioned significant educational and economic resources for the sake of development. Any contrary perspective to gifted education program can pose potential challenge to curriculum developers. Therefore, it is important to learn that there is interdependence amongst different social, professional and labor groups within advanced society.
Success in such cases requires that gifted education should not be considered as a separate entity from other education programs. The aim should be in providing quality services for all students by raising the bar for gifted students. Additionally, the school can source for outside support for the purposes of expanding gifted education programs (Gallagher and Gallagher, 1994).
Conclusion
Trained gifted students are typically competent based on the training they receive. However, different individuals employ acquired knowledge differently. Learning behaviors that make individuals improve their performance necessitate rewarding to sustain competitiveness. Such approach ensures that society benefits from the training mediated by gifted skills, behavior and attitudes. Gifted education programs would ensure provision of dedicated workforce since success within social and economic circles is guaranteed. This will only work in cases where curriculum functions for the benefit of society and not individual (Rodgers, 2002).
The mission statement is specific in that it seeks to have a committed and satisfied society. It is measurable considering that the contribution of gifted education programs can be assessed and compared to performance prior to the implementation of the program. Such programs are attainable since it involves human interaction, satisfaction, creation of commitment and consequent innovativeness. The success of such initiative can be assessed according to the improvement in performance within workforce. Using performance appraisal tools, the level of improvement reflects whether the initiative is successful or not (Rodgers, 2002).
References
Clark, B. (2002). Growing up gifted; developing the potential of children at home and at School. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Prenticehall.
Gallagher, J. J., & Gallagher, S. A. (1994). Teaching the gifted child. (fourth edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Rodgers, K. (2002). Reforming gifted education. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.