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Excerpts from letter
written November 20, 1998
Quote from
http://www.chron.com/content/story.html/features/142985
"For
instance, gifted girls ... tend to go underground in middle school because
they don't want to be gifted," she said. "It's not cool to be gifted."
I've heard this more than once in the media. Could I have been so
wrong? I thought it was cool to be gifted. Being identified
as gifted, got me out of boring classes and into classes with some interesting
kids. Were we uncool? We didn't think so, but did everybody
else think so? I looked at my yearbook from my Senior year to check.
There
were only 17 kids in my honors class, and around 300 in my graduating class
of 1978.
The following awarded by
Student Body or Senior Class:
-
Homecoming Queen runner-up
-
3 of the 8 cheerleaders (2 guys
& 1 gal) including the Head cheerleader.
-
Best All-Around Senior Boy
-
Best All-Around Senior Girl
Runner-up
-
Most Talented Senior Girl
-
Most Talented Senior Girl Runner-up
-
Most Handsome Senior Boy Runner-up
-
Most Likely to Succeed Senior
Boy Runner-up
-
Most Likely to Succeed Senior
Girl Runner-up
-
Valentine Sweetheart
-
Senior Class President
-
Bison of the Year (Teachers
vote)
-
7 out of 14 Seniors voted into
school's Who's Who (Yearbook staff votes)
-
1 Drill team officer (drill
team votes)
These positions held
because of talent
-
5 out of the 7 musical leads
in "Oklahoma"
-
6 out of 9 Seniors to get first
division solo/ensemble (voice)
-
1 Varsity Football player
-
Captain of the Tennis team
-
1 Varsity Baseball player
-
1 golf team player
-
3 on the Drill team
-
4 in Band
-
10 in Choir
-
1 Feature Baton Twirler
-
10 in National Honor Society
-
Including
National Honor Society Secretary and Treasurer
-
1 Student Newspaper Editor-in-Cheif
-
2 Student Newspaper Photographers
-
1 Yearbook staff
-
8 in the Senior Play
Some of the clubs in which we
were also involved:
-
4 in Fencing Club
-
3 in Drama Club
-
4 in Life Leadership Club
-
3 in Latin Club, including
President
-
4 in Science Club
-
2 in Come Alive Club
-
1 in ROTC
I know
I missed some things, but you get the idea. This was from our Senior
year only. It appears that we were an active and popular bunch of
kids with more than our fair share of awards
and honors.
Now one could say that things have changed in the last twenty plus years,
but I heard the same kinds of comments even then. They certainly
weren't true at my school, and I doubt they are true now.
The quote was about Jr. High girls, but it wasn't true in my Jr. High either.
My bet is that if you picked up your High school yearbooks you would find
the same thing I found, so where do these misconceptions originate?
If they (the media) say it often enough does it become true?
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