China Overseas Chinese Network, October 19, title: Chinese parents in New York protested the cancellation of gifted classes. Can't you work too hard?
Recently, nearly a hundred Chinese parents and elected officials in New York protested in front of the New York City Department of Education, opposing Mayor Bai Sihao’s disregarding the opinions of students’ parents and rashly canceling gifted classes.
On January 13 this year, New York Mayor Bai Sihao announced that the gifted class examination system will be abolished in 2022 and replaced by the "Brilliant NYC" teaching program.
Data map (not related to graphics and text)
The abolition of gifted classes has always been one of the goals of education reforms promoted by Desire. Carranza, director of the New York Department of Education, once said that using a single test to measure the talents of four-year-old children would cause bad psychological hints to children who did not pass the exam. I am not as smart as the children in the gifted class, which limits my future development.
So, what is a gifted class?
Why did this policy change arouse such a big response from society?
What impact will the cancellation have on Chinese students?
Let Xiaoqiao take you in-depth interpretation!
What is a gifted class?
The Gifted and Talented Program (GT) in the United States is a special class set up for gifted children in various public schools. Choose a certain time for intensive teaching and learning.
Selection is generally conducted through examinations, and different states generally have different selection methods.
There are usually cognitive tests, and possibly math and reading tests.
Data map: On September 13, local time, a public school in New York City, the United States, opened. Students in front of a public school in Queens lined up to enter the school.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
The gifted program in New York is to apply for the exam before applying to the school.
The giftedness test is a standardized test divided according to the age of the students. Similar to the IQ test, it looks for students who are gifted in learning, and collects these children through the test, which can help some parents who choose private schools because of their concerns about the unevenness of their classmates. Return to the public system to improve the overall level of education.
Abolition of gifted classes, different voices from all walks of life
As soon as the policy of abolishing gifted classes was introduced, different voices arose from all walks of life. New York City Councillor Gu Yaming stated that the problem of education in New York City is that there are too few high-quality educational resources, and the proportion of certain ethnic groups in gifted classes is small. This is because many of the school districts in which their communities are located do not even have gifted classes, and the exams should not be cancelled for this reason.
New York City Speaker Zhang Sheng (Corey Johnson) and State Senate New York City Board of Education Chairman Liu Chinyi also support the continued existence of the gifted class program, but believe that the current admission system needs to be reformed.
Zhang Sheng said that the gifted class program needs to be re-evaluated to ensure that all children have a fair chance to enter the program. Do not use a single test as an admission criterion. He also called for the reform process to involve parents, students, schools and other stakeholders.
Data map: Students return to school and resume classes.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Mengtong
Liu Chin-yi said that it is necessary to re-evaluate and improve the gifted classes in the future. The lack of seats for gifted classes and the single-examination admission system are all problems that should be solved.
A Chinese parent said that her eldest daughter did not spend any money to ask for any tutors when she was admitted to the gifted class, but the family would accompany her to jigsaw puzzles and play Rubik's Cubes to develop the child's intelligence.
The gifted class provides the daughter with the most suitable learning progress and environment. The daughter has benefited a lot. Now the mayor has rushed to cancel the project without any discussion with the parents. She believes that it is extremely unfair to the younger daughter who is about to go to kindergarten. .
Some advocates for the abolition of gifted classes have said that gifted classes are "unfair" and "unjust" and will lead to segregation of different races.
What impact will the cancellation of gifted classes have on Chinese students?
According to statistics, the proportion of Asian students in gifted classes in New York City is the largest, reaching 43%, followed by 36% of whites, and Hispanics and Africans are only 8% and 6% respectively.
The cancellation of gifted classes will undoubtedly have the greatest impact on Asians, especially Chinese students.
For children, a good upbringing environment and education system can help them improve their top-down self-regulation ability and make them more self-discipline, self-reflection, and self-reduction.
Data map: Students return to school and resume classes.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Mengtong
For most Chinese parents, gifted classes can provide children with a good learning progress and environment, allowing them to learn and progress in an environment that is more suitable for them.
The cancellation of the gifted class is very unfair to the Asians who have been working hard, especially the Chinese.
A Chinese-American parent living in Washington Heights, Manhattan said that her daughter was bullied by her classmates every day when she was in school, and she only went to the gifted class under the advice of the school teacher. In such a good environment, the child likes to go to school very much. Achieved excellent results.
Now that gifted classes are cancelled, the children's body and mind will be greatly affected.
At present, the controversy over the cancellation of gifted classes continues, and the New York City government has not made a new statement.
(Source of the manuscript: China Overseas Chinese Network WeChat Official Account; ID: qiaowangzhongguo; Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition, American "World Journal", American "Qiao Bao", American "Sing Tao Daily", "Boston Overseas Student Net", etc.; author : Zeng Xiaowei)