Were You Part Of The "Mentally Gifted Minds" Program In California Scools back in the 70's?

I was in TAG (Talented and Gifted) when I was in elementary school. I don't remember having a computer in any of the sessions we used to do, but it's been so long so I guess I could have forgotten about that part.

I did a report on UFO's while in TAG. I have no idea why I would do a report on UFO's. I remember the book (I can't recall the name of it or if it even had a name) vividly, because it seemed like most of the pages were blacked out. The thick solid black lines through hundreds of sentences left an impression on me and that is the reason I remember doing a report on UFO's. I think it was in our school library and I remember checking it out in order to do my report. If I recall correctly I wrote up a report, did some drawings and presented my report to either the teacher or to the class.

I have no idea why at the age of 7 or 8 I would do a report on UFO's. I must have been exposed to that subject right before the report assignment and that is the only explanation I have for wanting and doing a report on UFO's.

I guess as I've grown older I haven't really been obsessed or overly interested in UFO's, but I do find the subject very interesting, because it would be nice to find out we are not alone.

I remember taking a lot of field trips going to different places like museums and doing things that while on a "normal" field trip the class wouldn't be able to do. I guess it seemed as if we were the "privileged" kids and we were exposed to things that the non-TAG kids weren't allowed to do.

I kind of feel like one of the above posters on how my life has turned out. I dumbed myself down to my peers too and just kind of coasted through life seeming to always take the easy road. I seem to get bored with things very easily unless it's very challenging. I kind of wish I took my life in a different direction instead of always figuring out a way to get the most of something the easiest possible way, because sometimes people need challenges in order to feel they have a purpose.

Interesting about the lack of computer exposure. Here's what my daughter who is in 5th grade TAG had to say about what goes on in terms of curriculum. The TAG kids are split into TWO groups. One group goes into the library where they do reading/writing and the other group (hers) goes into a chlorine smelling classroom to do number theory. The thing is, my daughter is gifted in writing and her teachers have remarked on it and the fact that she has already developed voice in her writing, which they say most people never manage to do. Math is her least favorite and worst subject and this number theory class runs at the same time as the rest of her class is doing normal 5th grade math. This distresses her because she feels like she's going to fall behind in learning what she's supposed to be learning in her worst subject. It also distresses and aggravates her because she isn't being allowed into the reading/writing gifted group and is stuck in the number theory group. To be fair, she was personally invited to go to a local university for a writers' workshop with a prize winning author. Only a few kids per school got that invite so they, at least, are acknowledging her actual area of "giftedness" in that.

Getting this "glimpse" of what they are doing now tells me that either:

a. they are pushing her into this subject because they discovered that she is a low key human calculator (just like her mom) and it's more STEM based. They also ranked her future potential jobs, from most likely to least likely, as doctor, scientist, and artist and because of that, are focusing on the STEM.

b. they are pushing her into the numbers theory group because she already shows giftedness in writing/reading and they want to try to cultivate a possible potential "gift" in math. Distinct possibility as she does find what they are doing to be interesting.

c. they want to make her school life a living hell by forcing her into a subject that she doesn't like. She is aggravated by this arrangement plus the worries, which I think are very real and normal worries that any kid would have if they had struggled in a subject and found themselves removed from class during the normal teaching period for it.

She was recently state tested and her scores came back very good in all subjects with strengths in the reading/writing so it's not had an untoward effect on her math portions yet. Psychologically? Not so sure and she and I have discussed that she can leave TAG at anytime that she wishes. She knows that I am less than affectionate towards TAG classes as I always re-affirm that attitude during these discussions. I have a lot of problems with their arrangements and think that it may, at the end of the day, have a negative and isolating effect on children.

Lack of computer exposure = possibility of two pull out groups back then, too.

Snicker...probably...lol.

Four fours math puzzle this week. Kids are having to use only 4 4's to make any number, 1-100, using any operation. Apparently, they are learning math on crack. Love how just about nearly every sight enthused at how popular this was--popular with whom? Mathematicians? Thought so.

[link to www.mathsisfun.com]

Anyways, they are apparently working on this for the entire week. Why? I have no idea other than to make them see numbers in a different light and be creative with them. Hunted around looking for the point of it for a bit this morning. Spotted someone on another CT site that will go unnamed (moon loving rest stop) talking about the 4444 math puzzle (just rehashing what it is)--irony. Week long of staring at 4's, maybe the point is to see 4's in their sleep. lol

Researching my own numerology/sudoku/magic square theories this week.Seeing #'s in a different light is sure to be a big reason.

MGM just seems like wizard school sometimes.

LOL. That's pretty funny. My son made a crack a few days ago that we all actually went to Hogwarts and that the gifted program was actually wizard school. Oh synchronicity, you humour me.

Had my weekly talk with my daughter about the program, reminding her that I wouldn't be disappointed if she dropped it, etc etc and also asking her how she felt in terms of isolation. She says she no longer feels isolated because so many of her friends are in the program with her (previously, she had equal numbers outside and within). Asked her if she was still friends with people that weren't in it, she remarked on only 1 friend outside of it. She absolutely does not want to leave the program at this point. She said that other classes are boring and this one is actually interesting. Talked to her about how she will have to go back to regular classes someday because it's not forever. She didn't care. Apparently, they do not give her homework at all anymore (she hated homework) so guarantee she's loathe to lose that perk, too. She actually got a little testy and very off put that I was talking to her about leaving it.

It's that quick. One month of program with pull out 3-4 times a week and she's already nearly closed her peer group to only the others in the gifted program. Oddly enough, she also may have intentionally tried missing school twice this week (one success). Very unusual behavior for her. Heavily considering removing her from it but concerned that she will hate me for the rest of her life if I do. If she keeps trying to avoid school though, she'll have to learn to get over hating me.

Turning 44 this month.Anyone have a chance to check this "Lucifers DNA" thread out? yet Thread: Lucifer's DNA - Full Length Movie Released! (Page 9)

[link to humansarefree.com]
Funny symptoms sound a lot like some of ours.

All aboard the ark...departure is nearing ;-)

Much love.

Who's ark?

Ours, the one we have built together for this time. Free will, of course, to board or not...tough decision.

Why go anywhere?

Your choice. I'm just relaying a message.

Tell me more.

yes and yes o-negative

Dont take ark's from strangers.

Any "new" posters should introduce themeselves or fuck off with your mysteries.

NY state here. I went thru that shit starting around 4-5th grade, so, around 1975. The Gifted Student Program or some shit like that. Special library sessions, IQ testing, etc. they taught me to speed read, a skill I retain to this day. Me and only one other kid were in it in the whole school. That "other kid" was my girlfriend at the time that lived 4 houses away from me. We got to do all that stuff together away from all the other kids. Didn't seem weird at the time, but I did understand I was supposedly "unique". At least that's what they told me then.

You were a few years earlier then me.Have you read this whole thread?

ACCCK! There are over 238 pages to this thread! Just because I can speed read does not mean I read everything (I get lazy )! No, I saw the subject of the post and it triggered me to reply right away. I really should try to read the entire thread, though.

Whatcho remember?

Short version.We have super powers.

Haha, just got off an involuntary vacation (cough cough)but my SO and I were just discussing this very thing a couple nights ago. Ahh synchronicity or hive mind, how funny you are. I just think what we can do is a heck of a lot more subtle than any X-Men. What prompted our discussion was a strange event. I "heard" a wolf spider that had been perched in a high corner of my room for days in my sleep. Was a loud and bizarre sound accompanied with the thought that it was coming down. Opened my eyes and sure enough, there it was trekking down across the wall to me. SO was sound asleep, didn't hear a thing. Woke him up to liberate the poor spider. I've always been attuned with living things and have been able to calm a wasp in my hand but I've never in my life had a sound attributed to any of that. No clue what I heard in my sleep but can't dismiss it all as a dream either because it was actually on the move after being still for days. Who knows but it got us talking again on Gowan's gifties.

If any of you are Jubilee, I hereby disown you. I, unfortunately, have dibs on being "Bug Girl". lol Oh and I've been waking at 4 am pst every night on the dot. Talk about sleep disruption.

Probably should but don't be too quick to dismiss the Ludens stuff entirely. I did find that Homo Ludens was definitely a theory used in the gifted program. I take our Ludens fellow to be perhaps a little on the addled side but having a bit of a nugget of truth to it.

I'd say happy birthday but if you're like me, probably don't care much for birthdays, lol. Poked around on it. It's kind of filled with the stuff that gives me seizures but did look at the triple helix aspect and found this: [link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

NIH means that this is something that they have been toying with. Also was surprised to see Psolaren mentioned in the NIH page. I was on Psolaren for a while as an early teen (13-14?)due to vitiligo in my hair and not my skin. Kind of odd because I've not had problems with vitiligo at all. Have a non-blood family member who has it and it's major for him. I look (aside from the streaks in my hair) normal--very even skin tone that's always been heavily remarked upon as my one of my greatest features. lol, NOT something that someone with vitiligo would ever say. Totally remember being on Psolaren though as it was a hell of a thing to spend the summer covered from head to toe and limiting my exposure to the sun. Imagine being a teen in the middle of summer wearing long sleeves and pants and a large brimmed hat. Reason #2398 for feeling like a freak as a teen. Psolaren is a mutagen.

They did this in Omaha....SAC base at Offet air base

I got interviewed on this....but don't have any other tale to tell.....my mom organized this and said I was gifted.......at this late age I say, " gifted with what?"

More like cursed.

I think there is something to this dna stuff.And sound.

I get a little panicky every time I read this thread. I've been lurking here for quite a while.

I was in MGM in CA schools in the 70s -- don't remember much at all about it, and I was in it for years. It's always seemed strange to me that I spent that much time in a program I can't remember. I know some big name, three-letter-agency people were involved in some of the early programs -- that much is documented.

Hey welcome. Know the feeling though it's shifted from panicky to just grim consternation and a quasi acceptance of it. I guess I've just looked at it for so long and hard that I'm growing desensitized to it. No more anxiety attacks. I just grit my teeth instead. Not sure if that's an improvement or not, lol. Probably not according to my dentist. Definitely had the three letter agencies involved for sure and I think there is still some interest. Sure wasn't the IRS, the SEC and FCC either. Overall, it's not a comfortable thing to look at, think about or consider. My son and I were discussing this subject today and he said that it made him uneasy most of the time when we talk about it. Took him a while to find the right word to describe it and that was "unethical". Smart kid.