Kindergarten Debate

The great kindergarten debate was one that my own family has taken part in. On one side, parents hold their children (mostly boys) that have missed the cut-off date of September 31st, one year back so that they'll have an advantage over the normal kids. On the other hand, critics like Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt, who wrote the New York Times' Delay Kindergarten at Your Child’s Peril, believe that this may hurt the child. the article states that, "In a class of 25, the average difference is equivalent to going from 13th place to 11th. This advantage fades by the end of elementary school, though, and disadvantages start to accumulate. In high school, redshirted children are less motivated and perform less well." My brother is just the opposite, he was pushed forward even though he missed the cutoff date. He was never seen as the shrimp as his grade And contrary to what anyone would expect, he was always seen as one of the older ones because of his height. Sometimes it does begin to show that he is a little behind his peers in maturity and sports skill, but he always makes up for it with his intelligence.  My brother, who is also a gifted student, surpasses many children in his grade -some of which are more than a year ahead of him- in test scores and intelligence. He has learned to keep up with his peers and I feel like most children in his position would do the same. As the article states, as time goes on, the disadvantages begin to accumulate as time goes on when children are "redshirted". The situation begins to become a little sticky when sports are brought into the equation. Many children that are mature for their grade, are perceived as more advanced, and as a result, many of them are put in a class with older kids, taught more, and more time is put into 'harvesting' and 'growing' their talent. This is when kids like my brother have the disadvantage. Even though my brother is tall and smart, it doesn't make up for some of his setback in his football skills. He plays as if he was a junior, but he is technically a senior. Because he was seen as "okay" a few times and looking a bit older, people think that he's just not as consistent as his classmates, when in reality, hes playing even better than an average junior. There are many advantages and disadvantages of being redshirted. My opinion is to leave them in the grade they should be in, let them grow and figure things out by themselves instead of babying them and setting them one year back in the future.
  

Being Gifted: Is It As Good As It Looks?

Being gifted can be just what it states- A gift. It can also become a never ending pain, both in being judged by others and being judged by yourself. Sometimes it's hard to live up to not only other's expectations but your own. Now especial I'm officially labeled a gifted child, I get disappointed at myself sometimes because Ive realized that I've now set these standards for myself. Other times it serves as a good thing and it helps me push myself to my potential. Other times you get more positive attention for being bright in you classes. Even though these are great, there are some myths about gifted students , by National Association for Gifted Children here. 

That Student Can’t Be Gifted; He’s Receiving Poor Grades  This is one if the most untrue statements I've ever seen. Out of self expertience I can tell you that homework it TOO EASY for me. Over time, I've lost interest. I can know do an assignment the period before the class and get the same grade as an average student that spent an hour on it. Homework and classwork just seems like busywork to me. I've even come t a point were I dislike doing it a lot. And getting low assessment grades can mean that you're not a good test taker. All Children Are Gifted This s a myth. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of people that are good at certain things, but being good at something and being gifted at something are two entirely separate things. A truth about being gifted is that your mind is mature. The catch to this is that it doesn't mean that you are mature. Many gifted children suffer from asynchronous development. read more about it here. Another is how gifted children get treated like adults. I kind liked this one because I liked to treated like a mature person even though I wasn't. I was 12 going on 20. I like being perceived s intellectually advanced especially because of my height. In all, being gifted has it ups and downs. You just have to learn how to deal with it.

First Post Back

Hello, it's Zeenat here.
I'm now a freshman, but I really miss the summer. Not because of the weather (I like the cold and hate the summer heat) but because I had to come back from my amazing vacation in Dubai. Everything was expensive, beautiful, and ornate. And it was the perfect vacation because I got to travel somewhere new. I absolutely love to travel and to go & airplanes. I've been to the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and (of course) North America. One thing a didn't like about Dubai was how some of the people stared at you. I really don't like when people stare at me in a negative way. There was a lot of variety when it came to food. They offered anything from cultural cuisines to Burger King and IHOP. And that was honestly the best IHOP I've ever had! That's another thing about me... I love food. I love shopping so the malls were a go to destination in Dubai. The stores ranges from abaya shops to Nike and even Aeropostale and Chanel! I like learning new things and this trip was definetly a learning experience.

But to conclude the post, here are some things that I liked and didn't like on the vacation.

Like:

Food
Travel
Airplanes
Airports
New things
Learning
Shopping
Hotel beds
Cool henna
New phone case

Disliked:

The staring
The heat
The humidity
The strange microwave in the hotel room
The plane with no tv
The Arabic commercials that I can't understand.
Some mean taxi drivers
The burger king fries
The super loud screaming kid in the Swiss airport
How everyone's airports are cooler than ours