I had the grades. Straight A’s. I did my work, participated in class, and still, I was never seen all throughout middle school. During the time I was never invited into the gifted programs, even when I was recommended for the accelerated route in 6th, I wasn’t allowed to be a part of it. It wasn’t because I wasn’t smart enough, I knew that much. It was because, to them, I didn’t look “the part” or “it was too full for someone like you.”
Since then I’ve understood that there’s an unspoken assumption in schools that “gifted,” and “honors” has a face, and it’s rarely ever Black.
Black students are passed over for these programs every day, not because we lack intelligence, but because we don’t fit the mold of what teachers and administrators expect “smart” to be. Studies have shown that Black students are less likely to be identified as gifted unless they have a Black teacher backing them. That means that no matter how smart we are, we’ll most likely go unnoticed, our potential unrealized, simply because the people in charge of seeing it are looking for something else.
I remember sitting in class, watching the same kids get pulled for special programs, wondering what made them different.
Kiara Lee-Heart, an educator who was once in the same seat as me said “Picture it: You’re in a class that will challenge your mind, expand your world and ultimately give you a competitive edge in college admissions. Your honors class is an opportunity—an opportunity that is not in the cards for many Black students. You know that Black, Native American and Latinx students are generally less likely to attend schools that even offer advanced classes. Opportunity gaps can limit your access to academic success from the start, resulting in racialized achievement gaps. These inequities present major obstacles for many students in search of a seat at the table.”
Just like a lot of people out there, I worked just as hard, sometimes even harder. I was even recommended. Yet, I wasn’t chosen even after I moved to the better neighborhood, it was all for naught. It’s a quiet kind of rejection, the kind that doesn’t come with a letter or a denial—just an absence. A missing opportunity. A path that given the opportunity could have put me ten steps ahead.
And the worst part? You start to believe it. If the system tells you enough times that you don’t belong, that you’re not gifted, not talented, not exceptional, you start to wonder if it’s true. If maybe you are just average. If maybe those programs weren’t meant for you after all.
Ms. Kiara Lee Heart added,”But that’s the lie they want us to believe. I’ve come to the realization later in life that everything in life is what you make it. No matter the setback I always find a way to come back stronger, to come out on the other side of the rainbow unscratched.”
I wasn’t put in gifted programs. I wasn’t given that head start. But I made it anyway. And for every Black student being underestimated right now, I see you. You are more than what they tell you. You are more than what they refuse to recognize. Keep going. Keep proving them wrong. Because at the end of the day, we were and ARE never the problem. The system is!
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https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/young-gifted-and-black-inequitable-outcomes-gifted-and-talented-programs
https://edtrust.org/press-room/black-and-latino-students-shut-out-of-advanced-coursework-opportunities/ https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/a-crooked-seat-at-the-table-black-and-alone-in-an-honors-class
