Gifted Learners

(President Obama on fixing No Child Left Behind)

When you think of a gifted learner what comes to your mind? In my opinion a gifted learner is someone who finds completing tasks in a variety or different areas easier than I would. Before reading about gifted learners I was under the impression that gifted learners were lucky to have such great gifts, but now I realize that may not necessarily be true. Most people, including myself believe that gifted learners can thrive on their own without the help of schooling. Currently there is nobody that counts the total amount of "gifted learners" in America. The National Association for Gifted Children report that there are 3 million gifted learners currently in America today, which is 6 percent of the total population is schools today. This data however uses estimates from the 1972 Marland report to Congress that stated around 5-7 percent of school children are capable of "high performance." Many schools do not provide opportunities to challenge the gifted children and they get bored easily. Many students will drop out of school because of the lack of challenges in school, and that means that many of our nations brightest people are neglected and will not reach their full potential. Young students generally attempt to conform and avoid being different while in school. But, many of these gifted students report feelings of isolation and feel as though they do not have a place in schooling no matter what they try. No child left behind is the current version of a policy that was established in 1965. The goal of No Child Left Behind is to ensure education equity for all students. The version of this policy we know today has been the same since 2002, when President George W. Bush passed it. This policy wants the best education for all students and its name says that no student should be left behind, but students are still continuing to fall through the cracks. President Obama is calling on Congress to fix the inadequacies of No Child Left Behind. Hopefully this program will include every student and do everything in the governments power to help the students of this country succeed. I believe every student deserves to be challenged and given every possible opportunity to succeed with the proper instruction. I hope that things will change and no student will be left behind.