Zohran Mamdani, the socialist front-runner to become New York City’s next mayor, “says he would phase out” New York City’s “gifted program for early grades,” reports The New York Times. This anti-achievement stance has drawn criticism not just from moderates and conservatives, but even people on the progressive web site Bluesky.
“My wife is an elementary gifted ed specialist. The idea that gifted kids either don’t exist or don’t benefit from gifted education services is both wrong and harmful to those kids. Phasing out gifted programs is stupid,” said one outspoken Bluesky user who was trained as a lawyer and has authored or edited several books.
Another Bluesky user noted, “We recognize kids at one end of the distribution need special services and support” through special education. “It follows that kids at the other end are just as differentiated and need specialized services as well,” in the form of programs for the gifted.
As the New York Times notes, supporters of gifted and talented programs “argue that the gifted and talented program is a haven for bright students and that it keeps middle-class families in public schools who might otherwise leave for charter or private schools.”
When placed in slow-moving classrooms for kids of ordinary intelligence, gifted children can get bored, and later drop out of school. One of my European relatives was so bored in his classes he eventually dropped out of school, even though he had such high natural intelligence that when he was later drafted by his county’s military, he aced the intelligence test he was given in the military. (Given his high IQ, he could have chosen to do something else, but he chose to be a paratrooper, which requires courage rather than extraordinary intelligence). Because he doesn’t even have a high-school degree, he ended up working as a truck driver after leaving the military.
Zohran Mamdani has called for emptying jails, because “VioIence is an artificial construct.” Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, leads in public opinion polls, with 45% of New Yorkers supporting Mamdani, versus 23% for independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and 15% supporting Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Mamdani has called for pulling police out of high crime areas. He denounced the New York Police Department [NYPD], writing, “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety. What we need is to Defund The NYPD.” Mandani also said that “Queer liberation means defund the police.”
Mamdani, a self-described socialist has called for having the government run grocery stores, even though such stores lose money, cost taxpayers, and result in increased food waste and reduced choices of food. Mamdani also proposed arbitrary, extreme restrictions on rent that would leave landlords with too little money to maintain housing units, which could turn much of New York into a slum.
Not all Democrats support Mamdani. Laura Gillen, a House Democrat on Long Island, criticized Zohran Mamdani, saying, “Socialist Zohran Mamdani is too extreme to lead New York City. His entire campaign has been built on unachievable promises and higher taxes, which is the last thing New York needs. Beyond that, Mr. Mamdani has called to defund the police and has demonstrated a deeply disturbing pattern of unacceptable antisemitic comments which stoke hate at a time when antisemitism is skyrocketing. He is the absolute wrong choice for New York.”
In 2021, Mamdani called for “seizing the means of production” during a conference of the Young Democratic Socialists of America. Communists talk about seizing the means of production, not people who respect democracy or nonviolence.
