It takes a good memory to recall when Morenci’s gifted and talented program for students got underway. Likewise, it’s probably difficult to remember when it slowly dwindled away.

The program flourished when more cash was available from state and federal sources.

This isn’t to say that opportunities no longer exist for able students. The Science Olympiad, Equations, the science fair, Advanced Placement courses, dual enrollment, art projects, music competition—options exist to go beyond the regular classroom fare, but it’s not the same as having a specified gifted and talented program. That’s something most school districts made room for at one time, but few talk about anymore.

Perhaps it isn’t right to say that it isn’t talked about. It’s on the minds of Morenci’s school improvement team, said superintendent Kyle Griffith, but with funding short even for the basics, it doesn’t go beyond talk.

Morenci’s Board of Education was reminded about education for talented students when a parent spoke at the meeting Monday.

She’s hoping some enrichment programs could be offered and she’s even willing to help with fund raising if that’s what it takes to get it going.

Even before the arrival of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind program, education policy has focussed on students at the bottom of the ladder.

Huge sums of money are spent on bringing lower achievers up to proficiency compared to the money spent on those with the highest potential. Since No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was instituted, the situation has worsened. In Michigan, a year after NCLB, funding for gifted programs fell from $5 million to $500,000 as pressure increased to meet basic standards. Federal dollars have decreased dramatically also.

We’re not saying that efforts to help students at the lower end should be halted, and we understand that teachers’ jobs are getting rougher through staff cuts and the increased pressure on achievement tests.

But we’re glad the topic of the gifted child was brought to the board’s attention and it’s good to hear that the improvement team thinks about the situation.

“Are we failing our geniuses?” asks an article in Time magazine. To some extent that’s true. As journalist John McCloud put it, our concern with identifying deficiencies makes us overlook cultivating the gifts.