A Strong Cry for a Much Needed Honors
System for our Gifted Students
by Robert B. Gordon,
Sc. D.
November 21, 2006
SUMMARY
AND CONCLUSIONS
From my broad life experience in education, I strongly suggest the adoption, in our major cities, of Honor Classes in grades 7 thru 12 for the top 1% of students in very large schools and the top 2% of students in large schools. Experience with such classes proves that, the interaction between the children themselves, without special teacher help, will improve the mental acuity of the entire group and will result in the graduation of a high school class of very high brilliance, all without any increase in cost of the schooling. Further education at the college level, for these bright students will give the U.S. a group of talented minds that will be of great benefit to our nation.
INTRODUCTION
The entire education system of our country was once the wonder of the entire world, but in past decades it has suffered from a process of serious "dumbing down" that is lost in our present preoccupation with things like athletics and the emphasis on quantity rather than quality. Now, it is certainly true that our brightest students have always excelled on a relative basis vs. the average, but, in my lifetime, I have seen the miracles that can come from an "honors system" in Junior and Senior high school. In my years, I have witnessed the results of education in a one room school with one teacher for all 8 grades and also visited an outstanding private academy with one teacher for each 8 students. I wish to present these varied approaches to my readers.
I have seen marvelous results in sectarian schools in this country as well as in the far Pacific. But these are the exceptions. My two sons went thru an honors system in Junior and Senior high school in a major Western city which was abandoned after they had graduated in the top 1% of their large class.
Although my children and grandchildren add up to just 6 family members, I want to tell my readers the details of their varied education to support the need for a strong "honors" system to keep our nation competitive in the modern world. Many of our competitors have been "building up" while we have been "dumbing down". It is high time for this country to wake up and to help advance the education of their gifted students.
MY OWN EDUCATION IN THE U.S. from 1919 to 1939.
I have a dim memory of playing in a sandbox in kindergarten and the next memory is very vivid of my third grade teacher, marching me up to the second floor to promote me and let me harass the new teacher with my many questions so that she could recover her senses. In this old building, built in the 1880's, there were certainly no honor classes. I went through 12 grades, missing grades 3 ad 6 and finally graduated at the immature age of 15.
It was 1930, after the great 1929 market crash, and the entire country was in a massive depression that I remember very well. My father's salary was cut in half and my mother's parents had joined our family. At 15 1/2 I had a learner's driving permit and my Dad took me down to a used car lot and we drove home in a late model 1927 Model T Ford that cost $11, so help me God. I entered my local University, drove 28 miles round trip, for 4 years and sold the car for $20 before moving to Cambridge and MIT.
When I entered college in a class of 200, our local newspaper featured me, and a taller youth, in a photograph as the shortest and tallest members of the entering class. Four years later, I was featured in a list of graduates who received the Phi Beta Kappa key. Typically of me at the time, I was unaware of the election until I received an unusual special delivery letter with an urgent request for $5 to pay for the highly regarded gold key. I had registered in Mechanical Engineering and planned to go into Architecture but, by the time I graduated in 1935, there were steel skeletons everywhere and no new buildings. The only architect my family knew was working as a superintendent of a small apartment building.
I got a scholarship at MIT and, in September 1935, registered for a Master's degree in M.E., living in the Graduate House on campus. I was enjoying the great MIT faculty and taking courses like Thermodynamics. I also, very significant to my future career, enrolled in a course in the Metallurgy department, to follow up on an earlier undergraduate course. During that course, the Head of the Department took "a shine" to me and said to me one day, "Bob", shift to Metallurgy and I'll pay you $600 per year as a Teaching Assistant. Well, that was too good to refuse, so I spent the next 3 years teaching a laboratory course and completing my Doctoral Thesis. My year in M.E. contributed as a minor for my Sc. D. degree in 1939.
I had some very interesting students in my lab course, which was required for undergraduate Physics students. One was an unassuming young man who, years later, was a Nobel prize laureate in Physics, and picked as the greatest mind in the country to head the study in Florida for the crash of our space ship. Other very fine students I taught were top Annapolis graduates who had just completed 5 years at sea and were sent for graduate work at MIT. This was pretty interesting stuff for me at my tender age of 22 at the time.
Along with my teaching, went the doctoral thesis work which required 3 years of long hard effort This of course had to be new and original and reach a conclusive end point. It was not just spending so many hours in the laboratory. I had friends who were spending 5 or 6 years to finish their thesis work. My thesis involved 3 years of hard work with some new magnetic instruments that were very important to my success.
I graduated from MIT in June 1939 at age 24. I was awarded the Sigma Xi honorary science key. The huge depression that started in 1929 was still in progress and I received only two job offers, one with International Nickel in Bayonne, NJ that I declined after visiting Bayonne and the other with Westinghouse Electric in Pittsburgh after a very short interview in New York between two sessions at an AIME meeting. Obviously, Dr. A. Allan Bates, Head of Westinghouse Metallurgy Research, had talked to my thesis advisor at MIT and knew all about me because our meeting was so short. He turned out to be a great first boss and helped my career greatly. He also specialized in hand stands at all the social events our group enjoyed.
A PERSONAL NOTE
In retrospect, my education got off to a very bad start back in 1919. I went thru 12 grades with a group of only 20 classmates in terrible facilities, but somehow, I managed to do a few things right and ended up OK. But, at this time in our great country, it is necessary to give our brilliant students the best education possible, whether it be in a one room school or a private academy. Surely, our large highs schools should be given a mandate to, find, protect and cherish their gifted students as a national treasure, which they surely are, in my opinion.
A ONE ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE
My very bright 6'8" grandson grew up in a town of 50 people in the high gold mining area of Idaho. In winter it was completely isolated from the rest of Idaho by snow. The only school had one teacher who taught 8 grades. My grandson, went on to several colleges and acquired more than enough credit for a degree in Mining, but his greatest knack is his ability to fix his truck, along with anything else, for in the winter, even the mail did not get through to his snow‑bound town. So, the lesson from my tall grandson, is that quality of education does not come from a fancy schoolhouse but from a student's own efforts under a motivated teacher. And it may help if the snow is not too deep.
AN HONORS PROGRAM THAT WORKED VERY WELL
In the suburb of a very large Western city, about 50 years ago, I witnessed an amazingly successful Honors program that involved my two sons, each off whom participated from grade 7 thru graduation from grade 12. There was no great public outcry, for or against the program at the time, so it went on to a very good conclusion for my two sons who received a very superior public education.
This is what I witnessed over a seven year period. First, a very great increase in overall school activity such as participation in the band and other extra‑curricular activities. Each night, at dinner time, my wife and I heard stories about school activity that day. It was very obvious that the entire honors class was abuzz with activity and they were enjoying each others presence and contributions. Each school day became more exciting and, usually, because of the students interactions with each other , rather than anything the teacher did or did not do.
Both of my sons were in the school band, playing trumpet and piccolo, when one night the younger son came home with a tuba and proceeded to disassemble it on the living room floor. It turned out that they needed 2 tubas in the band to support the school flag in their marching. So he became a tuba player by choice since he had the right height for the job.
Eventually this very successful honors program was abandoned because it was "unpatriotic " or "unfair" or "something". But this program changed the lives of hundreds of children who benefited greatly with little or no added cost to the public at large. And our country benefited because of this fine program. My two sons both graduated in the top one per cent of their large class and went on to great careers in medicine and finance. I am completely convinced that, this type of honors program, should be encouraged for our nation's benefit, rather than banned as discriminatory. And, each child in the honors program, benefits and, collectively, their lives benefit our nation.
A SUPERB, SMALL PRIVATE SCHOOL
The last example I wish to give is a very small private academy covering grades 7 to 12 where 2 of my grandchildren had a superb educational experience that may be unmatched anywhere in the U.S. This excellent academy normally has about one teacher per 8 students and the results are very, very good. This great school is both small and expensive and benefited greatly from having a great headmaster for at least 25 years. It features very small classes, participation in athletics or gym and a very special emphasis on each student doing a research project each year and then defending it publicly at an exhibition before judges. Prizes are awarded each year and winners then go on to regional and state exhibitions where additional awards are given. I watched this program work at the local and state level and found it to be very effective in developing the ability for each student to think independently and speak in public.
Parental help is very needed in the lower grades to get youngsters interested in a research project which can start very simple and grow with age and experience. But enthusiasm for this fine program grows with the child's age and can be very great and productive in the higher grades. I have witnessed my grandchildren defending their projects both at school and elsewhere. They became expert speakers and won many local, state, and even one international, awards. As one example, one of my grandchildren entered the freshman class of a great university and chose hieroglyphics as one course, and shortly thereafter, was appointed the professor's assistant. Another grandchild won a full 4 year scholarship at another university by overwhelming the scholarship committee with a great presentation. These results are astounding, but not surprising, for those witnessing student progress in this great academy.
My account does not exaggerate a bit. This great academy is every bit as good as my description reveals. These are true stories and the results of this great "every student" research program at a small academy are almost unbelievable until you can see and experience them for yourself.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
I am sure that my readers now know that I have had a very broad lifetime experience in a wide range of educational environments, This experience leads me to reach the following important conclusions:
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Our national interest demands that our very bright students get the very best education possible in either the public or private arena.
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Honor classes should be available to all public school students who qualify, where and when they are offered.
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Eligibility should be based on individual achievement only and be available to all students.
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Honor classes, when available, should be recognized as the earned, natural right of each bright student.
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It is further recommended that our national leaders in Congress should address this need and recommend ways that Honor studies can be offered to more of our brilliant children.
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Our great nation stands to make further gains, both absolutely and relatively to other nations, as the number of honor graduates increases.
A NOTE ON THE GREAT 1929 DEPRESSION
For those interested, the Great 1929 Depression was finally ended by the huge buildup in 1942 for World War II, otherwise who knows when it might have ended. So, it is not wise to expect the next depression to be that short. Robert Prechter, my favorite expert, thinks it might last to the end of this century. So be cautious in your planning and thinking. So far, we have only completed Wave I down and Wave II up, of the five Elliott Waves, so please take care. There is much more to follow. For those wishing to learn more, I suggest they read Prechter's brilliant "At the Crest of the Tidal Wave" written in 1995.
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© 2006 Robert B. Gordon, Sc.
D.
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B. Gordon, Sc. D.
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