Education, Needs, and a Feminist Ethic of Care: Lessons from Discomfort with Academic Giftedness

The thrust of federal educational policies in the United States is to treat differences between school children as marks of neediness and/or disability. Although these policies were developed to correct disturbing inequalities, we argue that they distort needs and portray them as exceptional and stigmatized. To demonstrate this distortion, we examine a "difference" among children with which many people are uncomfortable and thus reluctant to acknowledge—academic giftedness. Arguing that the education of children is a practice of care, we apply the theoretical insights and normative commitments of a feminist ethic of care.