More and more specific classes are being created, provoking both reactions of reluctance and others of relief. Generally, it is the initiative of local associations who have spent considerable energy, contacted a large number of people and demonstrated admirable perseverance.
The first open class in a public middle school required absolute determination on the part of the principal and a set of supports capable of overcoming obstacles of all kinds. It was a remarkable synergy and a worthy fight. Since then, private colleges have taken over, always giving rise to the same criticisms and the same objections, including from parents of gifted children not wanting to “discriminate” their child.
The main argument is almost immediate: “my child will have to be around all kinds of people, it is best that he trains from childhood”we oppose it: “Wounds received in childhood leave deep traces that we never completely get rid of, so let’s do everything in our power to avoid them.” In hindsight, we see that children who have benefited from this type of schooling continue their studies more easily and are overall more relaxed.
Schools without specific classes
Obviously, there are still a number of cities that do not offer these classes and we are loath to put an 11-year-old child in a boarding school, far from his family, so we do the best we can, relying on the reputation of the colleges. There are some where the team naturally identifies gifted children, without putting them in the “special needs” box., in the company of “dys” of all kinds and autistic people, even if they can also be dys or asperger. These teachers were gifted children, their own children are gifted, they understand these children without the need for long explanations.
During primary school, they do not hesitate to propose a class skip and above all to have it accepted by the entire school, teachers, students and also parents, sometimes reluctant: they do not want their child to be discriminated against, or they have bad memories of their own class skipping. In reality, what is most important is that teachers are attentive to these children. We talk about their hypersensitivity as a cliché: they simply sometimes react intensely to the personality of a teacher or to the atmosphere of the class, which can be disrupted by an excessively disruptive leader.
Interest in gifted children
Apart from these accidents, inherent to school life, these children like the faster pace of acquisition and the more in-depth explanations that everyone understands and appreciates. They thus have more time for other discoveries and other activities that delight them. Many have nightmare memories of primary school where they were soon harassed, since it is often gifted children who constitute ideal targets: too good students, too quick-witted and also too naive and too generous, they do not see the evil, do not understand it and therefore do not know how to develop an effective defense, but, at one against ten or more, a defense has difficulty being effective.
Years later, this single memory brings tears to their eyes, so painful was this nightmare. We can imagine what would have happened to them if their entire schooling had taken place in this dramatic atmosphere. First of all, they did not want to immediately involve their parents in this disaster, they hoped that it would end or that someone from the establishment would come to their aid, time passed, the harassment became a habit and the bullied child plunges into hopelessness with no escape.
A certain paradise found
A class that welcomes them for who they are, where their qualities are recognized and where we work to develop them represents a paradise after the hell they experienced. To face daily life, it is necessary to have effective weapons; there is no point in being bullied by unimaginative children who we will certainly not see later, because they will have become jealous adults, perhaps – be frustrated because of mediocre success, in any case, they will not transform into charming individuals, full of humor, and gifted for friendship, like those who can become true friends for the gifted child who has become adult and knowing how to use his gifts.
Parents say it without reservation: their child has changed, he has blossomed, he is more joyful and above all, he has experienced the delights of friendship since taking an appropriate class. Often, he was able to skip a class during primary school, and his situation as the youngest, sometimes smaller in size, did not help his affairs, now he is with children of the same age, without appearing to be a phenomenon and his his own nature does not annoy any teacher, on the contrary, they recognize his gifts and apply themselves to making them bear fruit.
However, paradise does not exist, everything is not idyllic, there are also students who are jealous of an ease that they do not possess in a specific field and teachers who believe that any student, whoever they may be, annoys, perhaps because they also have other problems. Most often, teachers relish their chance to address a class interested in their teaching and happy to progress in discovering the wonders of literature and mathematics, or even passionate about history.
Teacher involvement
Class and teachers train each other to surpass themselves. In schools where there are few students, it is possible to adapt teaching to some, but it is a subtle and exhausting exercise: we must remember that it is preferable not to excessively differentiate a child gifted in to avoid the problems that could result from this with regard to his classmates who risk being less and less comrades.
It happens that parents, tired of seeing their children misunderstood and neglected, embark on creating a school, they generate goodwill and enjoy the pleasure of seeing their children flourish, but you need to have many weapons to succeed. this tour de force, because it is indeed a battle which seems to be becoming more and more difficult.
Advice : You should remain attentive to your child’s education and not place unrestricted reliance on the nearest establishment. Public rumor is sometimes of some interest. Home schooling is becoming more and more suspicious and requires great availability from one of the parents, which is sometimes impossible. In the absence of an alternative, we try to compensate by visiting museums or exhibitions, we treat ourselves to a getaway to Paris to see the current exhibition at the Jardin des Plantes or at the Cité de la Science, which pleases adults too…