Support for talented students

Dear Editor:As a trained engineer I like to use facts whenever I write or speak on any theme. Unfortunately I have not been able to identify the person in the Downey Unified School District (DUSD) who could give me the information that I needed to write this letter so I'll use the technique of reasonableness instead. As an example of this technique I can tell with a high degree of accuracy simply by looking at a person that that person is obese without knowing his exact weight. So here we go. I am sure that the DUSD spends a large amount of money helping students with Special Education requirements. I don't need to know the exact amount to know that I am right. I believe that spending so much money in Special Education children is very commendable and that it should be continued. I also think that we should ask the DUSD to use some eugenic principles and pay attention to their gifted students. I propose that the same amount of money that is being spent on Special Education children should also be spent on talented children by giving them special nutrition, coaching and tutoring to help them achieve greater goals than they could do otherwise. I don't believe that this action would be beyond the pale. It should be very easy to identify the talented students just as it is easy to identify the students who require Special Education. From this group a number of students, ranked by academic performance, equal to the number of students with Special Education needs would be selected for a program we would call Improving Talented Children's Education (ITCE). This process would be done at the end of the school year and the selected talented children would be required to attend special seminars during the summer to prepare them for more challenging studies during the next academic year. The future of the country depends more in our gifted students than in any other group and it is time that we should be giving them the support and opportunities they deserve. I invite the parents of talented students to join me in lobbying the DUSD for the creation of the ITCE program. It will be a great contribution to the betterment of our society and something of which we all could be really proud. -- Jorge Montero, Downey

********** Published: January 6, 2011 - Volume 9 - Issue 38