<p>And calling for less balance for the sake of a disabled few is neither unjust nor selfish? Don't you think that's just a bit hypocritical?</p>
<p>"Children in the Los Angeles inner city diagnosed with autism get less than 2 hours of professional help a week, in far contrast to the 30 hour help per week obtained by students in more affluent neighborhoods."</p>
<ol>
<li>Site your source, please.</li>
<li>Uhh... no *<strong><em>ing *</em></strong>? People in affluent neighborhoods are, you guessed it, better off than inner city kids. The 2 vs 30 hours also applies to all the smart kids. Hell, it applies to EVERY kid.</li>
</ol>
<p>The source is the Los Angeles times newspaper article from Saturday, May 12th. What do you want me to do? Scan the article, e-mail it, and wipe your nose with it?
This shows you how many people on CC are hypocrites. They would help the homeless, volunteer at a hospital, and write essays speaking out against injustice, but when it comes to a choice whether they have to give up their own comforts for the good of the society's infirm, they would become vehemently defensive, citing "balance" and that society is meant to obviously be this way.
I hope you would have the guts to say what you so fervently defend online, to the face of any social worker or humanitarian. It would at least prove that you are not a hypocrite.</p>
<p>I was in gifted all nine years I attended the public school and here's what it was like...we called it KEEP (Keystone Education Enrichment Program, yes I'm from PA in case you were wondering about the name)</p>
<p>Elementary School: KEEP was a class we had one day each week. We were pulled from another class, typically spelling. It functioned like any other special class (art, music, gym) in the fact that we would have units. Unlike those three there was no grade, just a written evalutation as to where we were. Examples of what we did included the stock market game, a business scenario, science projects, research, computer activities, etc. We also would take field trips from time to time that were KEEP exclusive. KEEP classes consisted of everyone in the program from all three homerooms plus one student who attended a Catholic school and was bussed over to join us in KEEP.</p>
<p>Also in elementary school, the KEEP teacher would have a special lesson in the enriched math and reading classes (the high track). Reading was typically higher level books and higher level response. In math, some of the activities were playing the computer game "Hot Dog Stand" (a simulation of a business) and exploring algebraic concepts using pawns and scales (aka Hands on Equations). These lessons would come a few times every month and were always well-liked for breaking up the monotony of daily class.</p>
<p>Middle School: Again, KEEP was a class. More field trips and opportunities to compete in academic events outside of school and after school were offered here, and instead of being pulled out of a class KEEP occupied an open schedule slot, erasing one day of study hall or coming on a day opposite of gym (which was scheduled consistently throughout the year on specific days for specific grade levels). Activity types were the same as in elementary school yet higher level. Instead of having every KEEP student in the room for a class, KEEP classes consisted of a few students, usually around 5 or 6. Sometimes there would be more like 10 and other times due to scheduling there would be only one (as was the case my eighth grade year--I did a lot of independent computer work that year in KEEP).</p>
<p>High School: KEEP students were given first priority on field trips and activities (such as mock trial) and were the ones notified of them. Non-KEEP students could participate in these events as well. There were some activities that were KEEP-specific yet the difference between a KEEP student and one not in the program were fewer at this level. KEEP students attended their IEP meetings and received extra support from both the KEEP teacher and the other present staff members (usually a counselor, the principal and/or assistant principal, a regular teacher, often another support person such as a coach or advisor, and one or both parents).</p>
<p>As far as KEEP versus other programs, we got far less support at any level than LS, ES, or life skills. Students with downs, autism, etc were in some regular ed classes but were in special ed classrooms for over half the day in many cases. We got one period of KEEP per week in comparison. While you could argue that field trips and after school stuff would count, most KEEP students averaged maybe three or four per year. Also, the after school sessions for some events were student run (such as when the teacher could not be present for a mock trial meeting).</p>
<p>Also, there was one student in our school with a double IEP. He was in both ES and KEEP with diagnoses of autism and giftedness. The guy seemed to outgrow his autism by eighth grade but the IEP was kept anyways. Now there is a student they are spending a ton of time/resources on.</p>
<p>gifted people are better investments. think about it if you invest 10,000 dollars into a smart person you can really get them somewhere but if you do the same for a retarded person what difference will it make? they will still have very limited abilities and be dependent on society. meanwhile since you invested money in the smart kid he can get a high paying job and pay more taxes and that money goes to helping the retarded people out.</p>
<p>it kind of bothers me when theres a retarded person at my school and they have an individual helper, like a personal assistant and meanwhile we have these giant class sizes. </p>
<p>i think what would be more helpful for retarded kids would be to send them to a school where they can learn like simple factory work or soemthing at least they can make a living off of, what will learning about the war of 1812 do for them. </p>
<p>for example i know a guy with like some mental learning problem. no matter how much you teach him he never learns. hes not going to go to college, how can he realistically? it would be better for him to learn job skills than what he is learning now he doesnt get it anyway.</p>
<p>"GATE is a pathetic joke to inflate people's egos and parents bragging rights. As a program, it is a complete failure and a waste of tax paying money. Ask your counselor, make them earn their money for once."</p>
<p>Actually, the GATe money that our school earned (k-8th grade) when I was younger went directly to the students who tested GATE. We had amazing after school workshops, classes, and clubs for the GATE students as well as a GATE teacher on campus that designed special projects for the GATE sutdents. We would also leave class when the teacher was doing work that was far below the GATE students and do hands-on projects and activities. So to say that the counselours are earning the money is ridiculous- If the program is working the way it should, the money will go to the students.</p>