Rural Area Gifted Learners

I was reminded this morning of the giftedness that dwells in the rural areas of this country by family and friends from home. I attended high school in a small rural community in Virginia. My high school graduating class had less than 55 students. My children also attended the same school. Over the years, many, many young people have attended my high school and have been nurtured either in their homes, or their churches or in the few special programs the school could provide with its limited economic resources.

Among the graduates that I know personally, there are many highly successful educators, bankers, artists, entrepreneurs, military officers, and even a few Phds who have distinguished themselves in their careers. These individuals had family support, or internal motivation to enable them to excel outside of their limited K-12 experience and reach the pinnacle of their careers or at least, become successful and provide well for themselves and their families.

So many others, however, without opportunities being made available through school programs languished and suffered. Without access to enriched school experiences and economic resources- rural area students- many who are also Black, Hispanic and Native American and come from low income families across the nation will never reach their full potential.

While we are considering the needs of gifted learners..this is just a brief appeal to NOT forget about the young scholars sitting in 'the country' in classrooms where they are bored, looking out of windows contemplating the solar system, the earth's ecology, designing a futuristic vehicle, writing the next classic novel in their minds, creating poetic verse, or developing a solution to world peace OR the cure to cancer.. these students need our attention too. Their schools need funding, highly trained teachers, and they need easier access to high end curriculum on a regular basis.

Let's keep this subset of gifted learners in mind as we continue to 'banter' about how best to serve gifted learners across the nation...