I wasn't but thanks, this is entirely unhelpful in breaking down the complexities of intellectual ableism and racism and classism and elitism in US education. https://twitter.com/mollyhc/status/1307009864279916544

The thing is, pretending there's no such thing as "former gifted kid" problems is a lot like pretending toxic masculinity isn't a thing.

First of all, a lot of former gifted kids actually are and were neurodivergent. I'm Autistic and have ADHD but the latter wasn't picked up on until I was 19 in large part because of intellectual ableism.

The former didn't get a formal dx until I was almost 22.

And, yes, I benefited from that intellectual ableism and from people's ideas about whiteness and Asian heritage.

I also internalized a lot of very wrong, harmful ideas about what gave me value. AND I missed out on an education that might have taught me useful life skills.

I mean, SpEd generally sucks and I also have guilt about not having gone through it when so many people I care about did.

Of the two, gifted programs are certainly better. But it's like saying being constipated is better than having explosive diarrhea.

I once read and tweeted about a presentation I read about gifted programs and the IQ tests they use for screening.

The person said it was to be expected that gifted students would show noticeably slow processing speeds.

But in gifted students, that wasn't a sign of ADHD.

Which is... nonsense. It's a nonsense based in ridiculous ableist ideas that have nothing to do with reality.

The point of gifted programs is roughly the same as that of SpEd programs.

It's to remove students who disrupt the flow of teaching for the majority.

For a lot of shitty reasons based in oppressive ideas, one is seen as a reward and the other as a punishment.

I mean, and they also function that way on a practical level. Gifted students "get to" do fun activities. I spent a lot of time doing logic puzzles and playing other educational games.

SpEd students get neglected, restrained, isolated, scapegoated, exploited...

We all learn very early on that being good at school means you are a good person who deserves good things.

And it fucks us all up.

So yeah. Former gifted kid problems are real.

A shitton of people who are having to reckon with all the oppressive beliefs we internalized and all the maladaptive behaviors we learned because of an entire system designed to teach us those things?

Real.

Talking about "former gifted kid problems" is not a humblebrag. It's not saying "we had it worse".

Or at least it shouldn't be and it's gross if it is.

It's just a lot of adults going "well that fucked us up."

Hopefully the next step is former gifted kids looking at why gifted education fucked us up and campaigning for change to the whole system, including SpEd and the school-to-prison pipeline and re-segregation and...

I mean there is a lot to talk about.

It's not entirely untrue that gifted programs are primarily white and middle class students.

The IQ tests gifted programs use to screen students tend to "unintentionally" select for certain cultural backgrounds.

It's part of the problem with quantifying intelligence period.

Also because of white supremacy and the way it works, many teachers are more likely to identify white (and probably light-skinned Asian) students as "gifted".

In other words, I agree with OP that racial bias is there.

Class bias is there too. We know from studies that students from homes with more resources are more likely to perform well in school. For a lot of very predictable reasons.

So I agree with OP on that point, too.

I also think it's bullshit to call being good at school "gifted".

Like it's some sort of present the universe brought you because it loves you so much.

That said, "being good at school" is what "gifted" means in this context and a lot of kids got taught that was the most important part of our identities, so.

And like, sorry, but if you mock people for not being "smart" or "intelligent" you're part of the problem.

I suppose it's been a while since I yelled about this but yeah, this is something I think about a lot.

A hell of a lot.

Frankly if the universe was going to bring me a present I would have preferred something that would be useful past graduating high school. https://twitter.com/EbThen/status/1307251080309493760

I honestly think the Gifted/Typical/SpEd hierarchy is a pretty obvious illustration of intellectual ableism.

It gets more complicated the deeper you dive but it's still a good picture for the concept.

Anyway, that's why I will push back hard on any analysis of "former gifted kid problems" that erases the very real role of ableism in creating these problems.

If you made it this far, there are these puppies and their humans and an accident and a lot of need.

Also the humans are my family. https://twitter.com/EbThen/status/1307121660470923266