Hello New Mexico PED, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on New Rule 6.31.3 as follows:1. Please delete 2 paragraphs: 6.31.3.7E. (Creative or divergent thinking) and 6.31.3.7L. (Leadership ability). These paragraphs allow students to get in by Subjective rather than Objective assessment. Please see this paragraph referencing “divergent thinking”, excerpted from Edutopia online (S. Goodman, Aug 12, 2015), which reinforces my point:
“Teachers also might find divergent thinking and behavior a challenge when students ignore directions and rules, and, if we’re honest with ourselves, display personality traits that operate outside societal norms. These non-normative students, kids like the character Ludovic, who are transgender or who identify as atheists, for example, might be considered divergent in many of our communities. It’s up to us as school administrators and teachers to ensure that good judgment extends beyond what might be considered current social norms and take into account what’s best for our students’ spirits, humanity, and ultimate sense of belonging.”Summary of my remarks: “Divergent thinking” and “Leadership” should not be in the New Mexico gifted program. The inclusion of these two dumbs-down the Gifted program. The tragedy is that NM is a hispanic-majority State. These “subjective” measures reveal the NM PED’s condescendingpedagogy of inclusion of cheating for the State’s Hispanics. Merit is the only measure, anything else is cheating and unacceptable.
By the way, my Mom is hispanic southern NM and my Dad anglo from Albuquerque.V/RRick Reynaud, P.E.Coalition of Conservatives in Action (CCIA) Education committeeLas Cruces, NM
