Are There Philosophical Reasons To Promote Gifted Education In The Context Of A Democratic And Egal :: Philosophy Essays

Are There Philosophical Reasons To Promote Gifted Education In The Context Of A Democratic And Egalitarian Society? ABSTRACT: Despite the historical recognition of the importance of the development of individual human potentialities for the group, gifted individuals have not been treated equally. Three reasons are analyzed: (a) the primacy given to institutions over the individual, except those particular cases in which the individual is identified with the institution itself, or invested with the power of one institution; (b) the lack of recognition of the particular needs of gifted individuals; and (c) the assumption of egalitarian ideals inside specific societies. Despite arguments to the contrary, gifted education will be defended. Gifted individuals have special needs. I assume that Hope and Good Will provide enough justification for this public human task. Traditionally defined, education is the social enterprise that preserves the cultural gains of human groups, and transmits them to future generations. As a social tool, education is used to reach collective and individual objectives; it is a common tool that helps to satisfy the needs of both the society as a whole, and each individual in particular. It is also broadly acknowledged that educational endeavors are human efforts to trim, polish, and "improve" our human nature. From a historical perspective, we notice that human societies have provided unequal educational attention to their constituencies. Individuals coming from different socio-economical strata have had access to correspondingly different levels of attention. Usually, those individuals pertaining to a higher strata in the power structure have received the benefits of a major social investment, mainly for the sake of status, regardless of their real capabilities. At this point we need to make explicit the implicit assumption that individual capabilities --wit, talents, genius, temper, neuromusculoskeletal structure, and diverse chemical byproducts-are the historical result of randomly combined factors, including date and place of birth. There is another assumption that should be considered for a mixture of pragmatic and ideological reasons without ignoring that some of its implications convey some internal logical contradictions and, potentially, undesirable effects. Nevertheless, if we assume --for the sake of the argument-- that all human beings are equal, and all have the right to develop their potential to its maximum, then we have to say that fair and systematic attention is not found in the treatment given to the whole class of individuals genetically endowed with special needs --including the gifted ones. Some of them have been neglected in the frame of our highly socio-economical and politically stratified societies.