Gifted Minority Programs
« Thread started on: Aug 18th, 2003, 09:59am »
Hi all,
I think that we should make G/T minority youth and adults one of our primary focus groups as far as advocacy is concerned. In my experience, there is a cultural movement which says it is 'acting white' or being uppity to strive for educational excellence, and I think that this is a sad situation.
Some ideas I have; special recruitment of minority adults to participate in mentoring programs, public service announcements (I have a few ideas here), and gifted programs in schools which specifically target minorities.
This is of course not to say that all youth are not a major concern for us, but I think that there isn't the same level of the pervasive attitude of distaste among caucasions for giftedness and academic excellence that I've seen and heard about in minority children.
Re: Gifted Minority Programs
« Reply #1 on: Aug 18th, 2003, 10:04am »
Public Service Announcement idea 1:
African American teen sitting on a stool in front of a big tv screen showing a KKK rally. "I can hear about why I shouldn't care about my education from the KKK..." "Why do I also hear it from my friends?" Screen fades to black, and in large white letters "why is it 'white' to be educated?"
Re: Gifted Minority Programs
« Reply #2 on: Aug 18th, 2003, 7:14pm »
There is also much resistance among parents and families of minority groups to allow their child to participate in enrichment or gifted programs sometimes. There may be expectations of the child's role and duty to the family first. I think parent education and support is necessary in order to have a successful recruitment of minority gifted children. As students (especially around the age of puberty- and especially among females) they sometimes decide to hide their intelligence in order to fiit in with peers from their culture. I see this a lot with hispanic females in my state. Many of them seem to "drop out" of gifted programs or take on an easier schedule once they hit high school (or once they become interested in the opposite sex!) Mentorships could foster and encourage these children to set goals and persevere for the long term benefits. Also, any time they can spend in the "real world" (internships, shadowing) and see why they need to continue to take higher level classes would be especially beneficial.
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