Tanya Das, age 13, has been identified as gifted and wants other gifted students to receive individual focus in classrooms.
Harrington Middle school student Tanya Das feels strongly that gifted children are not being served properly by state public schools.
Tanya, 13, said she was identified as “profoundly gifted” by the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at age 7, where she tested in the 99.99 percentile on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, and since 2012 she’s also been a member of International and American Mensa.
So when Tanya learned through her membership in the state chapter of the National Association for Gifted Children about an opportunity to speak on the issue before an open workshop of the state Department of Education in early May, she jumped at the chance.
“All kids should think for themselves and advocate for themselves and own their own learning. I feel that’s very important,” Tanya said.
Tanya, who teaches herself with online classes in addition to her work at school, frames the education of gifted children in schools as a civil rights issue, hoping she can raise awareness in other students and parents and have them take a stand alongside her.
With aspirations toward studying law at Harvard University and even becoming president, Tanya advocates for more investment toward personalized plans in schools for children, which she said would give all students a better chance to grow and help society.
“I think it’s really important to give back to the community, because we owe it to society. When we give back to the community, the community can give back to us,” Tanya said.
The following is a full transcript of Tanya’s statement she read to the Department of Education:
Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity to update you on — lack of appropriate and consistent delivery of gifted education services in New Jersey. You will hear about practices and in-field implementation of gifted education from the perspective of its recipient — “the gifted student”.
I am a 13 year old studying in grade seven in the New Jersey school system. My name is Tanya Das. I stand here to represent each one of the 80,000-plus gifted students in our state. Only some of them have been identified and given a chance to be in a gifted academic program — many have not been identified. There are schools that have no gifted education programs.
I was tested and identified as profoundly gifted by Robert Wood Johnson Medical School where I scored in the 99.99 percentile in WISC-IV at the age of 7, in 2012. I have been a member of International and American Mensa since 2012. I am also a Johns Hopkins CTY scholar and Stanford EPGY scholar. I have been the recipient of the Nicholas Greene Distinguished Student Award in 2014.
So, why am I here? I think sharing my personal experience of education will provide insight into where the education policies of New Jersey need to be improved and also how easy it may be to fix these problems.
In grade one, I spent more than half of the day simply wondering what to do, having completed classwork quickly. These were the years when school was a drudgery and I refused to go to school, ending up with 40 days absence from school. This is when my parents took me for testing to the Gifted Child Clinic. I do not say this with pride, but a deep feeling of sorrow and remorse. Just think of this, I lost 40 days from my active learning years. Scientists say that the maximum growth of the brain and formation of the synapses happens before the child reaches age 10. Hence, please see this in perspective of what I have missed.
I have been in a Gifted Academic Program from grade one. So what does this mean? Well, the GAP program in my school was a one hour per week pull-out. This was my one chance to learn with students who were interested and able to grasp concepts quickly and liked being challenged. The teacher understood my humor and ideas and encouraged me to reach higher. Do you think one hour per week is all that a gifted child deserves to be his/herself and be happy? I survived through those years only because my parents supported my learning with activities and materials outside of school. There are many families with no awareness of how to handle gifted kids. These kids end up wasting time, and perhaps getting into trouble, due to lack of engaging activities. They end up in life becoming liabilities to society rather than the stars of our society delivering innovations as progressive thinkers.
Let’s work smart. In today’s digital world, computer adaptive tests should be used to determine the appropriate instructional level to challenge each and every student. This will ensure that no student has met a ceiling. This will mean that all students — both gifted and struggling, get attention. When their education is neglected, gifted students do not show the growth to which they are entitled. Just because someone is intellectually gifted doesn’t guarantee them a successful life. Growth needs to be measured for all students with some system of following each student’s growth, including gifted kids.
The law states that “Every child deserves equal opportunities in their education and schools will serve the learning needs of every child.” Then, I ask you — “How is this true? When I, a gifted child stand here saying that I learn almost nothing new in school,” I think there is a huge miscommunication and wrong interpretation of the promise to “provide equal opportunity.” “Equal — does not mean same.” Yes, school gives me a standard accelerated curriculum, yet this is definitely not “Equal Opportunity.” What about the child whose school offers no acceleration? What about the students whose parents neither know of nor can afford out of school opportunities? This is certainly a Civil Rights issue.
“The Every Student Succeeds Act” is new and provides federal funds for gifted. Most schools don’t know this. The Department of Education has responsibility to assure some of the federal dollars are used to identify and serve gifted students and to train their teachers. Yet, while the policy makers focus mostly on children who are partially proficient on standardized tests, this inadvertently denies access for high achievers to gifted resources that would essentially build the world of tomorrow. There is a new law in our state that says teachers in training need two courses in special education. I say one of these courses should be “How to Teach Gifted Students” for all educators, especially since we spend almost all of our time in general education classes.
Under-serving gifted students creates a recipe for disaster and tons of wasted time. I beseech you to use the power vested in you to make gifted education a priority in New Jersey to assure all kids get to learn and grow. You owe this to the world. When you think that you have allowed “Mankind” to slow its progress forward and taken from the Earth those minds and brains that would contribute to a “greener and more peaceful world where everyone finds food and a good life” — would you be able to get a good night’s sleep with a clear conscience?
To watch a video of these remarks, check this Youtube video.
