So Much Pressure to Be Bright

The Seattle School District paid some education Ph.Ds to assess the district's gifted program, the Advanced Placement Program (APP).

[Full Disclosure: We were in APP (then called "IPP") from 1st-8th grade.]

The Ph.Ds produced a report containing a bunch of observations that are incomprehensible to anyone that isn't a Ph.D., such as the need for "socio-emotional counseling" and "overall curricular vision."

[Full Disclosure: In IPP we had this goofy slogan that went "You pee-pee, I pee-pee, we all pee-pee in IPP!"]

But the recommendation that catches the eye is this one: "lacks racial diversity."

[Full Disclosure: I am white.]

This is not news to us. APP has lacked racial diversity for a quarter of a century. When we were in it, there was just one black kid, who arguably didn't even count since his parents were white; he was adopted.

[Full Disclosure: You were adopted.]

The school district is trying to get more African-American students into APP, but it's a tough go. The program isn't well publicized, it tends to be known by the type of parents who have the time to research school options and take their kids to take a special standardized test. So upper-middle-class, educated people. In Seattle, these people tend to be white.

[Full Disclosure: In Seattle, 67.1% of people tend to be white.]

African-American parents who have the time to do such research may, understandably, not be willing to make their kid "the black one." APP lacks racial diversity, in part, because it lacks racial diversity.

[Full Disclosure: Golf lacks racial diversity because it's dumb.]

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to phase out the current program and start a new one, but make sure you start with an ethnically, socially, intellectually diverse student body. That would be our recommendation.

[Full Disclosure: We are not a Ph.D.]