Gifted

As a child, they measured my IQ at 154 before placing me in a gifted program. This meant that, once per day, I was pulled out of class and placed in a class with other gifted students, where we received separate instruction. I hated it, and fought to keep my children out of the program when the school wanted to place them in it. Not because I disagreed with the program, its aims, or how children are selected. No, I opposed it because of how teachers treated me. There were a couple of teachers who constantly pulled me up in front of the class to make fun of me- saying things like “He is supposed to be gifted, but he isn’t very smart.”

That teacher was black.

She hated me because I symbolized intelligence, while very few black children are above the median intelligence. In order to make themselves feel better, blacks have to convince themselves that gifted programs, and the intelligence tests used to screen for them, are racist constructs of the white race. That’s the premise behind this story in the New York Times.

I maxed out every aptitude test I was given. When I was in the Fifth grade, I was reading at the same level as a fourth year college student. My reading speed was over 300 words per minute with 80% comprehension. Even today it’s still high. My reading speed was recently measured at over 250 words per minute with 84% comprehension. When I took the GRE, I scored in the 96th percentile. I’m just good at tests, I guess.

To listen to those who oppose intelligence testing, they would claim that it’s because these tests are biased in favor of whites. Of course, that ignores the fact that Asians frequently outscore whites. The real issue here is that blacks are the third rail of political discourse. There is incontrovertible evidence that blacks are less intelligent, more prone to violence, and better in athletics than are other demographics, yet the only difference we are permitted to recognize is athleticism. Any result that reflects this- low credit scores, high homicide rates, poverty, or other negative outcomes are simply hand waved away as being evidence that whites are simply prejudiced.

They point out that children in poor households don’t do as well when taking intelligence tests, and then point out that blacks are poor, therefore the tests are prejudiced. Bullshit. Intelligence is hereditary. Since affluence is related to intelligence, we can conclude that rich parents tend to be more affluent, and tend to have smart, affluent children.

Now name the ten most violent neighborhoods in America. What do they all have in common? The most dangerous neighborhood in the US is in Los Angeles and is contained within E. 5th St., S. Los Angeles St., Boyd St., and S. San Pedro St.. That nine block area has 347 violent crimes for every 1,000 residents. In other words, if you live in this area, you have roughly a 35% chance of being the victim of a violent crime. In these few blocks, 55% of the households in this neighborhood earned less than 99.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods. The median household income of this area is around $9,175 per year. 83% of the residents were male, and about 80% of the population aged 16+ were not in the labor force—which is higher than 99% of U.S. block groups. The overwhelming population is black.

This plays out over and over again.

We have programs for “special” children, but we used to call those kids “retarded.” That moniker has fallen from favor, as accurate as it was. However, there is a movement to eliminate programs for “gifted” children, because not enough black kids are smart enough to be considered so.

It’s time to scrap public education. The entire system has failed.