hahaha the G and t "reader"(wtf???) is now way behind

[ImNotInterestedInYourKids]

1. being g and t for reading is odd

2. kdis mum went on adn on about it

3. kid now in year 5 and is still on level 10

hooray

In Kms defence i have heard other mums regarding another child as brilliant at something. "oh you know, Caitlin, she is amazing at how she does this or that" its a comment of respect.

i wouldnt walk up to aa stranger and ask after thier children

I think modesty is vastly under-rated

so does semen

apparently

One possible reason why the G&T topic is so vexing:

There are a few forms of talent where very exceptional ability can be possessed at an early age and might call for some sort of special eductational intervention. I'm thinking of mathematical/musical precociousness (chess-playing skills might fall into htis category I guess)

But for the vast majority of manifestations of intelligence, the intelligence is not something that exists on a single dimension, like height, or weight, or whatever. It is a complex involving narrow features like IQ but also much broader things like personality, emotion, character, maturity. As such, it can't be separated from the person as a whole, and can't be perceived except across the child's whole life and experience.

Parents know their own children well and see this growing intelligence like no outsider can, and so they might tend to feel that a child who is singled out on the basis of narrower criteria is unreasonably being judged 'better' than their own child.

passive aggression. All well, I'm felled by that comment, quite taken the wind out of my sails.

Wheras telling people to piss off is so refreshingly Active agression, isn't it?

I'm sure you'd love me to tell you what I think of you. But I'm going to be polite and do nothing.

as I understand it, G&T used to be more about potential and not letting it be missed in (for example) an inner city comp with low expectations. But now, schools seem to be classifying G&T on what the child is currently doing (i.e. the "gifted at reading"), which is not helpful when (as we all know) learning and achivement go in bursts.
But, yes, it is bloody difficult to find somewhere "safe" to talk about (as a real example) a child who has had a complete meltdown becasue she "only" got an A in Maths and not an A* - not a big deal to the majority of people in the general scheme of things, but completely devastating for that girl, and incredibly difficult for her parents who had no-one in RL who could come close to comprehnding that this was a huge issue.

Haychee - 'I was on that thread yesterday that has got everybody mad at you. It wasnt that bad you know'

On the contrary, the thread yesterday was a self-obsessed and attention seeking disgrace and one of the worse personal attacks I have witnessed in my many years on MN.

For the target of it to have been a much loved MNetter who has given freely of her extensive expertise on SN and other topics, made it worse (if that is possible).

Kerry, there are some people who are really silly about G & T. Now that schools HAVE to identify a certain percentage that way, it IS resulting in some silly parents being smug about not much really and that does annoy people and it is actually a pretty good thing to be able to see the irony and humour in.

It's not mutually exclusive at all; it doesn't mean that genuine issues experienced by genuinely exceptional kids are completely pushed off mumsnet. Threads like this do not mean other G & T threads don't get answered properly.

I had no idea either of my DDs had been branded G&T until another parent told me. Did it help DD1 get into Grammar school? Nope, she didn't get in. She and her sister just so happened to be in the top 2 or 3 in their classes and the rest of the children were slightly less clever and/or motivated, but neither of my little angels are child prodigies. The G&T thing is completely pointless. Real geniuses are few and far between. It's all pointless shite. I don't give a monkeys just as long as my children enjoy school and their childhood and do the best they can.

I'd far rather any extra expenditure used on these kids was put towards more teaching assistants or other help in schools. Help for those who struggle or whose parents don't give a damn, for example. Or SEN children, who are undoubtedly going to find their path to the big wide world much harder to tread.

I'm with Cod - I would have laughed too. Not out loud. But MN is a great place to vent your frustration. And even if the person in question is on MN, she's unlikely to recognise herself. And if she does, perhaps she'll think twice about bragging.

Haychee-I think for G and T it is the top 10% in a class in certain subjects. For NAGTY mambership which is a separate national scheme, schools are asked to nominate the top 5%.

ok

clandestine, I think I love you.

GOOD POST by VIOLET IMO

anwya anyone who has never sniggerd at someoen getting their come uppance is a liar

Oh bugger just wasted ages composing my thoughts on G&T and 20 000 000 000 people posted at the same time and buried them.

agree with clandestine.

Cod, have you seen Avenue Q? You must! There's a fab song called "Schadenfreude". Genius!

i do love all that muppety stuff

Geniuses, thats what i was trying to say. To me G&T is all about geniuses. Not a good reader.

Look here, Cod!

Avenue Q

Genius, I tell you.

The current G&T system is silly and meaningless I feel. Every (state) school has a set % of G&T children. Which is painly ridiculous. A child could be G&T in one school, move to a new school and no longer be G&T.

There should be no set % at all. There should be no label. A truely G&T child would be picked up anyway. I don't mean just a bright child, but an amazingly different child who is G and/or T in one or more areas. They will be noticed quickly. If a child is truely G/T then they should be given differentiated work and challenged, if necessary using SEN funding. SEN isn't just about children who need help to keep up, it is for all children with special educational needs - a truely G and/or T child would come in this category.

I don't think in my teaching career I came across a truely G and/or T child. I came across bright pupils, some on the G&T register, but not IMO truely gifted.

We need to scrap the current G&T system IMO. It is silly to think that all of our schools muct have 10% of its pupils categorised in this way.

Ther'd be uproar I am sure if the Government insisted that all schools must have 10% of children at the bottom end of the scale. But really what is the difference?!

no shcadenfreude there

do you know what haychee? i think i finally agree with you on something