Compensating the Poorness Factor - Assignment Example

Undermining the importance of the racial factor would indeed "not solve society's unsolved problems." Instead also of claiming that the source of the reduction in the proportion of identified gifted but economically disadvantaged children is the negatives effects of poverty, she cited the work of Brooks-Gunn and Duncan (1997) that environmental conditions outside the family have a major impact on the quality of life of these children, and therefore this problem is rooted not on the family conditions per se, but the assessment procedures in which these children are being selected.

Lastly, rather than defining giftedness in terms of exceptionally high achievement in traditional assessment procedures, she specified its failure to consider these children's limited opportunities to perform well in standardized tests, particularly those who are unable to fluently speak English. Through these criticisms, Kitano showed that Robinson's action plan rests on weak foundations, and she subsequently proposed additional transformative strategies for the economically disadvantaged gifted children, such as "sensitivity to racial, language and economic differences; changes in philosophy, definition, and assessment; and extraordinary intervention to enhance success.

Particularly, she stressed the Open Gate program as being able to meet these standards. These and other programs, initiatives, and self-correcting researches operate under the principle that poverty is not a hindrance to success; it is the case of whether the educated find noticing these people as more worthwhile than simply aiming for one's self-elevation. Moreover, the successful initiatives to improve the standard of education among these children are shreds of evidence that people from impoverished backgrounds are not losing hope.

In fact, these programs are noble ways of nurturing optimism among the economically disadvantaged, and in so doing, are the best training grounds for people who would literally give back what they learned to people of similar backgrounds. However, these programs must maintain their momentum and continue to recognize extra researches to improve the quality of their service. For instance, identifying motivators for participation and uprooting the problem inherent in the family system are areas of research that need to be addressed.

A noteworthy example would be the families who declined to participate in the Open Gate program. Service programs for the gifted children must recognize that the target participants are in minor ages and that the parents are the ones who make the majority of the decisions. Thus, service programs must include a component that attracts the parents and the children to participate. In addition, the old adage that prevention is better than cure continues to hold. Therefore, as corrective measures are undertaken, a simultaneous area of research must identify and solve the root of the situation.