At my school the entire purpose of the "gifted and talented" program seemed to be to make sure that middle class white kids didn't have to take any classes with black kids.
The real downside is that by isolating us they created this weird culture of competition where learning didn't seem anywhere near as important as sucking up to the teachers and getting grades and recommendations for IVY league schools.
It taught me that the type of people who at age 15 are already thinking about law school or medical school were not people I really wanted to be around, which is why I went to Bard instead of even trying for an Ivy.
(My teachers gave me great reccomendations for Bard because I was the only kid in those classes who wore metallica T-shirts instead of fucking sports jackets and dress pants to class.)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-08-16 12:08 pm (UTC)The real downside is that by isolating us they created this weird culture of competition where learning didn't seem anywhere near as important as sucking up to the teachers and getting grades and recommendations for IVY league schools.
It taught me that the type of people who at age 15 are already thinking about law school or medical school were not people I really wanted to be around, which is why I went to Bard instead of even trying for an Ivy.
(My teachers gave me great reccomendations for Bard because I was the only kid in those classes who wore metallica T-shirts instead of fucking sports jackets and dress pants to class.)