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Schools bending the rules for `gifted' students

Cram schools are a common feature of educational life in Taiwan. However, a new type of cram school class has recently appeared with courses that help elementary school graduates enter "gifted education classes" in junior high school.

Last weekend, a joint exam for more than 20,000 "gifted" students was held in five cities and counties in central Taiwan. Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) later said that the tests violated ministry laws and were illegal.

Amendments to the National Education Act (國民教育法) were made two years ago and stipulated the "normal distribution" of students in schools -- where students are not categorized into "upper-level" and "lower-level" classes, but instead placed into mixed ability classes.

But at the same time, according to the Special Education Act (特殊教育法), schools can still organize classes specifically for gifted students but these students must earn that designation after being observed by teachers or other professionals before taking the test.

Many schools in the country have therefore used the loophole in the system to continue dividing classes into upper and lower levels, but with upper-level classes now called classes for gifted students.

The examinations held last week were designed for this purpose, said Wang Ching-chuan (王慶泉), an official from the committee of special education at the ministry.

Feng Chiao-lan (馮喬蘭), executive director of the Humanistic Education Foundation, said that most Taiwanese parents have always held the belief that their children would receive a better education in a famous school or in upper-level classes with better teachers.

In the past, better teachers were arranged to teach top students while lower-level classes were neglected, Feng said.

"Parents need to understand that education is equal and their kids will be equally taught regardless of school and teachers," she said.

Mixed ability classes are better for students than upper and lower level classes since students do not need the kind of pressures that being assigned to one or the other would bring. They're better for teachers too, since most do not want to be thought of as not worthy of teaching upper level classes, Feng said.

Yang Hsiu-pi (楊秀碧), policy director of the National Teachers' Association, said that fake gifted education classes only caused segregation between students and that more resources were distributed to these classes, so they are therefore unfair to other "normal" students.

Also, the courses for students in the so-called gifted classes are geared towards entrance examinations to high school, Yang said.

"The students repeatedly practice exam questions so they can enter the best high schools in the country. That is not gifted education at all," she said.

Baw Chung-miin (包崇敏), chairman of the Parents' Association in Taipei, said that the association supported gifted education, but that gifted education should not be geared towards getting into a better school.

Baw said that even if genuinely gifted students end-up in the so-called gifted classes, they are often frustrated by the repetition of material and practice exams.

The courses are not designed for genuinely gifted students and according to a survey undertaken by the association, 20 percent of genuinely gifted students have considered suicide because they were unhappy, he said.

Gifted students should be distributed into mixed ability classes but for subjects for which they show a particular talent, they can be removed from their normal classes to learn in a special class designed especially for gifted children, Baw said.

"This is how it's done in most countries, such as Japan, where gifted children are allowed to skip grades or take high school or college-level courses when they're in junior high," he said.

"Gifted education is great for the future development of the country, but it has to be done correctly," Baw said.

While most people support the normal distribution of students in schools and special classes for the genuinely gifted, others still think that separating students into upper and lower levels is the way to go.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Peng Tien-fu (彭添富) who is on the Education and Culture Committee at the Legislative Yuan said that if students are not separated, teachers cannot effectively teach students.

"There is no problem with separating them, but rather, once separated, lower-level classes should not be neglected," Peng said.
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