My Thoughts on "The Gifted School" and Discussion Questions

Okay, time for a little bit of a humble brag.  Book club picked my book for book club!  It was a book that had been on my list for a while, and I finally bought it on Amazon.  Not only that, it was a book on my mom's list as well, so she was happy to hear I had bought it.  At book club, we were trying to figure out what to read next, and I brought this up in passing.  Once I told everyone what it was about, they were all in.

This book follows five families, four of whom have been close friends pretty much since the kids were born, then another family as well.  All five families are thrown into turmoil when it's announced that a new public school for the highly gifted will be opening in the area.  Of course, all five families immediately think that their children are perfect for this school and should attend.  There is, however, a rigorous admission process that all the children must endure, causing strife and tension amongst the friends and especially the children.  Additionally, this book focuses on the politics of opening such a school, especially for minority students in an nearly overwhelmingly white area (the book takes place in Colorado).  This book also explores the extents parents would go for their children, including backstabbing each other, manipulating each other and lying to their spouses.  This is very similar to what happened over the summer with parents lying on their children's applications to USC, although what the parents did in The Gifted School wasn't necessarily illegal.

It was hard for me to wrap my head around parts of this book because I'm not a parent myself, so it's hard for me to know exactly what I would do for my child.  On the other hand, I would like to think that I have enough of a moral compass to not lie or cheat to get my child into a prestigious school.  Additionally, I'd like to think I would know the limits of my child as well.  That was a big part of this book.  There was one child in particular who thought she was God's gift to mankind because her parents kept telling her that, but she actually wasn't very smart or good at school, thereby making pretty much her entire life a lie.  As a teacher, it's so important for me to understand the limits of a child.  If I know a student has worked as hard as possible and gotten a C in my class, then I'm going to be thrilled.  If another student, however, slacks off and gets a B but is capable of getting an A, then I'm not going to be as thrilled.  It's about knowing your child and that he or she does in fact have limits, whether you want to admit it or not.

Something that stood out to me throughout the book was the fact that as the parents' behavior got worse, so did the corresponding child.  This really exemplified the fact that the children really paid close attention to their parents' behavior and chose to mimic it.  This should serve as a huge reminder to parents that their children are constantly watching them and making note of their behavior, whether they realize it or not.

Unfortunately, this is pretty much all I can talk about when it comes to this book without divulging spoilers, so if you haven't read this book or want to avoid spoilers, you should probably stop reading now.  It is important to note that I will have book club discussion questions at the end of this post in case you use this book for your book club.

First of all, wow; these parents are the absolute WORST.  They've been friends for over a decade, yet they find absolutely nothing wrong with cutting each other down and mistreating each other's children to get what they want.  At first, I really liked Rose, and I thought she was going to be a great moral compass for the rest of her friends.  As the book progressed, however, I found myself liking her less and less.  While her actions weren't nearly as bad as Samantha and her husband's, it was the fact that Rose appeared to be a strong, positive figure while manipulating the system by meeting with the principal under the pretense of a fake medical study and removing Emma Z.'s name from the History Day presentation.  I just couldn't figure out how she thought she would get away with either of those, it was bound to come out into the open at some point (although she didn't think the presentation would be put on display during the open house).  It was because of Rose's actions that I was glad Emma Q. didn't get into Crystal Academy, as Rose tried to manipulate the system in multiple ways to give her daughter and upperhand.  If anything, this should be insulting to Emma Q., who was an incredibly intelligent child and probably could have gotten in on her own, but Rose ruined that for her.

Despite my feelings for Rose, I have a stronger dislike for Samantha simply because of her personality; I just can't imagine being friends with someone like her.  On the other hand, given her personality, none of her behavior should be a surprise for anyone.  When I was talking about knowing the limits of your child earlier, however, I was talking about her.  Samantha and her husband kept pushing Emma Z. more and more as if doing that could fix the fact that, unfortunately, their child was fairly average.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with being average, as most people are (most people are, as the word implies), but that's not good enough for Samantha, who must absolutely have the best of everything.

When it comes to the kids who did get accepted to the school, I'm so glad it was Tessa and Xander.  Of all the children from that circle of friends, they deserved it the most.  Their projects were entirely their own, and their mother didn't interfere at all; everything they produced was 100% their own, and they got in on their own merits, although Xander's project wasn't necessarily proper.  It's hard to hold Xander's project against him, however, since it's fairly obvious that he's on the spectrum, so he had no idea that he was breaking social norms and could be causing strife amongst the group.

Since I read this for book club, I wrote questions as I read.  I'm going to warn you, there are quite a few more than I usually have when I list discussion questions; there was simply so much here to work with.  You've been warned.

1. In what ways were the moms trying compete with each other?
2. Was Tessa's previous rebellious behavior a warning to parents for pushing their kids too hard?
3. In what ways was Emma Q.'s behavior an attempt to impress her mom?
4. Did Samantha's humble origins cause her lavish lifestyle later?
5. Given all the competition between the parents, was it healthy for the kids to be friends?
6. Ch'ayna told Atikcha about a man who went away for school and looked down on everyone when he returned.  How did the other moms and kids exemplify this?
7. As the admissions process continued, how did the kids, especially the Emmas, take on their parents' habits and attitudes?
8. Rose and Gareth worked hard to give Emma Q. a normal life.  Were they successful?
9. Rose referred to the admissions process as "a threat to the relationship between her family and Samantha's."  Not including the revelation at the end that Gareth is Emma Z.'s father, do you agree with this claim?
10. In what ways did Emma Q.'s success help her parents' marriage?
11. Gareth told Rose, "You'll be a lot less obsessed with what people think of you when you understand how infrequently they do."  Do the characters live up to this mantra?
12. The op-ed piece says gifted students "represent a population with special needs - much the same as our neurodiverse students with physical disabilities."  Do you agree?
13. Do you think Beck regrets divorcing Azra?
14. Was Rose acting in her own best interest or Emma Q.'s when she contacted Bitsy Leighton about studying the admissions process?
15. Do you agree with Ch'ayna that the school was using Atikcha?
16. Why did Azra have more faith in Tessa than Lauren?
17. Why was getting into Crystal Academy more important to the moms than the dads at first?
18. Rose says Emma Z. is "good in everything, best in none."  Is this a correct observation?
19. Why did Samantha and Kev lie about Emma Z. passing the CogPro?
20. How did the parents' behavior cause the children to form "The Gifted Club"?
21. What role did race and racism play in this book?
22. Crystal Academy was supposed to be a good thing, but was that necessarily true?
23. Why did Beck all of a sudden become so invested in Aiden being accepted?
24. Do you believe the admissions process was fair and equitable?
25. Do you think the members of ALPACA had a right to be upset?
26. What does the fact that Ch'ayna's name was spelled incorrectly in the other points of view tell you?
27. Was it right to blame Tessa for the hot tub incident with Beck?
28. Did Crystal Academy change the personalities of the parents, or were they always like this deep down inside?
29. What do you think drew Emma Z. to briefly experiment with self-harm (stabbing her finger with thumbtacks, etc)?
30. Rose speculates that Crystal Academy was just an excuse to do openly to their children what they'd been doing since before they were born.  Do you agree with this statement?
31. Did any of the acceptance or rejection letters surprise you
32. Where do you think each of the kids will end up in the future?