The New Apartheid in "Gifted" Schools
Harold Lawson
Executive Technolgy and Business Consultant, Project/Program Management, ITIL Certified, Business Development
As a kid that grew up in an AP program, have been through most of the things listed in this article, including having my National Merit Finalist test "lost" because of a counselor who thought minority students belonged in trade school, and not STEM. In one case I had an English teacher who gave me an "F" on my first two term papers. I was a pretty good writer, having won a half dozen awards by that time. So I came up with a plan. The smartest straight "A" student who was white and I switched papers being careful to imitate each others style. His paper under my name got an "F", mine under his name an "A". Took this to my Dad who was a published Historian and Educator, who didn't initially believe me. He wrote my next paper, which since I had learned his style was very much like mine. He got an "F". In our school there was only 1 other black kid in AP. I talked with him, his papers were equally being given failed grades by the same teacher. We took this to the school administrators. They fired the teacher - but I was stuck with the grades. Wound up with a "C" in the class with a new teacher because of the previous grades. Kinda tough when you are trying to maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA. My fellow minority student was awarded the same crap. When my SAT and ACT tests came in the top 1%, I was labeled as "good at test taking".
Went through pretty much the same crap 30 years later with my own daughter in high school.
The Other Segregation
The public focuses its attention on divides between schools, while tracking has created separate and unequal education systems within single schools.