
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 5, 1993                   TAG: 9311050176
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From The Washington Post and The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. NEGLECTS ITS BRIGHTEST, REPORT SAYS

Hundreds of thousands of bright American students sit bored in classes where the teacher rehashes lessons they already know, according to the first Education Department study of gifted children in two decades.

As a result of not being forced to work hard, America's best students fare poorly against the best students in other countries. Education Secretary Richard Riley called the problem a "quiet crisis," and said, "Our neglect of these students makes it impossible for Americans to compete in a global economy."

In some subjects, such as biology, America's top students ranked last among students from 12 developed nations. Most of the country's brightest children - traditionally defined as those who score in the top 3 to 5 percent of IQ and achievement tests - said they studied less than an hour a day. Feeding the lack of challenge to the estimated 2 million brightest students is what the study refers to as "America's ambivalence toward the intellect" that makes some students not want to excel for fear of being branded a "dweeb."

About two-thirds of public schools offer programs for the gifted and talented, but many entail little more than two or three hours a week, the report said. Many textbooks have decreased in difficulty by two grade levels in 20 years, and few if any publishers produce textbooks aimed at above-average students.

In elementary school, even before they begin the school year, gifted and talented students have mastered 35 to 50 percent of the basic curriculum, yet are required to attend the classes anyway.

The government report urges schools to offer new opportunities for exceptional students and training for teachers to better engage the quickest and most creative minds. It said special efforts to identify the talents of minorities must be made and that the regular curriculum has to be altered for the best students.

Since the 1970s, federal officials have shied from the topic because of controversy over the definition of "gifted" and concern that so few minorities were included in accelerated programs. Private foundations and public school budgets hesitated to fund programs for the brightest because it was seen as "politically incorrect" when so many students were failing.

But the result, said Harvard Prof. Howard Gardner, has been "malpractice for kids who are brilliant in mathematics to have to sit around and diddle."

by CNB