Online Community Reflection

Very interesting post on the Teachers.net gifted/talented chatboard...

Someone posted a thread noting the inactivity of the discussion board lately. I myself, was wondering why there were few posts in past weeks. The thread was answered by a teacher who responded that she stopped posting due to "negative nellies" - teachers who are negative about children and their professions. The second reason she gave was because... "Too many parent were using this as place to either complain about why their child didn't make it into the gifted program or how their gifted program didn't do enough for their child. While I sympathize with their situations, this is a TEACHERS board."

Yes the board is on a website called teachers.net but it does not require a special log in and anyone can view or respond to posts. Aren't parents a vital part of the education equation? When communication lines are cut either at schools, in classrooms, or even on this discussion board, children suffer the consequences. I do understand that many parents are upset when their child isn't accepted into a gifted program but I think that these feelings are due to the parents not being educated about the subject. Sometimes I think parents feel that if their child isn't gifted, they aren't smart, which is obviously not the case. I think that teacher discussion boards are a great way for parents to get feedback and advice from professionals without worrying about the educational or social repercussions for their children. Uninformed or not, I applaud the parents who are reaching out and trying to gather more information to benefit their child, gifted or not gifted.