Preaching to the Choir: They Need to Hear the Message, Too!
Recently, I have read several blog posts focused on some
negative aspects to ‘preaching to the choir’. They believe the gifted community
has become too insular and must now focus on outreach.
This seems like a reasonable assumption; except for one
thing. Members of the choir can come from any segment of the community;
including parents. For too long, parents have often been dismissed as transient
members flowing in and out of the greater community as their children enter the
system and eventually leaving when their children reach adulthood.
Am I advocating against attempts to reach out to the larger education
community; to policy wonks; to decision-makers? Certainly not! What I am saying
is that the leaders in our community should not forget about parents. They need to hear the message. The entire
concept of ‘giftedness’ may be new to them.
Those who make these observations have often been living and
breathing gifted advocacy for more years than many of you have been alive. They
have been going to gifted conferences every year since becoming involved with
gifted education. It’s easy to see how some of them wouldn't notice the new
faces in the audience.
I am talking about parents attending their first meeting,
workshop or conference. I’m also talking about first-year teachers who may
never have had a single undergraduate course in gifted education. Reaching out
is fine as long as it isn't in lieu of
attending and presenting at gifted conferences as well.
The gifted community is relatively small in the grand scheme
of things. The very idea of community is one of shelter; refuge. For many,
especially parents, a conference is the ONLY
time they can associate with those who understand the struggles and
frustration of advocating for a gifted child.
Parents, in fact, are on the front line of community
outreach. Parents are the ones facing skeptical or unsympathetic teachers.
Parents are the ones attending school board meetings to advocate for better
gifted programs in their schools. Parents are the ones who need to be persuaded
to call their elected officials to request funding for gifted education. They
need to know what they are talking about.
Preaching to the choir? Not such a bad idea after all.
Parents want to hear - parents NEED to hear! We are all at various stages of understanding our children's giftedness, and we need to have access to the wealth of information that we often don't even know is out there!
ReplyDeleteIt is so important for parents to have a good understanding and it is important to keep giving the essential basic messages as well as new research an developments at conferences and during chat sessions.
ReplyDeleteIt is older very beneficial for older members of the choir to hear and share the basic message and to enjoy joining in the chorus with both old and new choristers!
I don't ever intend to stop preaching to the choir or listening as part of it. There are so many adults that still need to be nurtured, too, and once our kids are grown, they are some of those adults, as are our siblings, parents, and most of their friends. They need and deserve to be part of it all. Many times I've been the moderator or leader of support groups for gifted families who stay long enough to find out what they want to know, or find out what they want to ignore, or just want to find peers for their children, and then....they're GONE.
ReplyDeleteVery sad. We're all worth so much more than that.