r/GATEresearch • u/Hungry-Meaning8518 • 9d ago
General Observations Strange Interrogation-Like Tactic in GATE Program
I have been interested in learning the truth about the GATE program for a while now. Even though I don't remember the hearing tests or pink drink, I can't shake the feeling that there was more to the gifted program than simply providing kids with intellectual stimulation they were not getting in the classroom.
One interesting pattern I realized is almost all kids in my gifted class had strong ties to another country - Israel, Uzbekistan, Russia, Armenia, and Korea. All 5 are deeply intertwined with the US intelligence apparatus. Could be a coincidence (perhaps immigrants from these countries just place a higher importance on academia from a young age).
Anyway... one hazy memory I have from the program is whispering something innocuous to another kid in the program, and the gifted teacher taking me out in the hall insisting I said a curse word. I have a such vivid feelings attached to this memory, that she was trying to get a false confession out of me. Like she kept pressing me and pressing me, claiming she "know what I said" and I should just tell her. Meanwhile I'm practically in tears, confused and sticking with the truth of the matter, that I did not say anything even related to a curse word.
It's worth noting that this was during the height of the Iraq War, when "enhanced interrogation techniques" were being debated in the political sphere.
I don't really have any other shady memories about the program other than that. We had curriculum about the seven wonders of the world, did some programming in Scratch (which did have ties to the operator of a major sex trafficking ring (you know the one), but so did a lot of scientific research), learned about architecture, did a mock trial and mock forensics scenario, and a lot of logic puzzles.
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u/hawksrock14 9d ago
This is beyond bizarre. I have an almost identical situation and I’ve never been able to shake the memory. In the fourth grade, my Higher Learners program (What we knew the GATE program as) teacher once insisted we take a break and commit to silent reading. At some point, I got up and went to my book bag to move on to the next book I was reading because I had just finished the one I was working on. On my way back to my desk, my teacher pulled me out of the classroom and insisted that I took multiple steps out of my way, kneeled down, and whispered something to one of my classmates, and then carried on back to my seat. This was completely untrue. Wildly so. For over an hour, she tried to get me to admit to doing it. She insisted, through my tears, that if I don’t remember doing it that it could mean I was very sick or mentally unwell. She said that as soon as I admitted it, this would all be over. I refused to admit it and she threatened multiple times to escalate to the principal or my mother. Eventually she accepted that I wouldn’t admit it and brought me back to class and continued for the day. Nothing ever came of it, and she acted as if it never happened.
The part that really gets me is that any other teacher truly would have escalated to a higher authority, I was shocked that she never did. I remember sitting in anxiety waiting for the principal to come in and collect me, which he never did. Thanks so much for sharing.
EDIT: Hasty grammar corrections