“One of my kids is brighter than the other. But these tests say they are the same".

When Sydney mother of four Kate Mannix signed up her twin 11-year-old children to sit a test designed to tell whether or not a child is gifted, she knew what the results would be.

Or at least, she thought she did.

According to Ms Mannix, her son Jack is well above-average in his academic – particularly mathematical – abilities.

So Ms Mannix expected her son to outperform his sister Eleanor, when the two Year 4 students sat the Opportunity Class Placement test.

The Opportunity Class Placement test consists of mathematics, English and general ability sections and is taken by around 10,000 NSW students every year. The 1200 kids with the best results in the test are offered placements at the 73 schools that offer special classes for the gifted.

Understandably, competition for the places is fierce about as combative as the men’s water polo final at the Olympics.. Mostly because the kids who get those gifted places, usually go on to get the very highly sought after places at selective high schools around the state. (And for parents who can’t afford $30,000-a-year fees for private high school; selective schools are where it’s at).

When Kate Mannix received the results of her twins’ tests, she was surprised to learn that neither of her children had been selected for the Year 5 Opportunity Class. And while Jack had scored higher overall, he had scored the same result as his sister in the maths section.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Ms Mannix said the results were “offensive.”

“One of my kids is brighter than the other, yet these tests say they are the same,” she said.

Ms Mannix is convinced the tests were flawed and that they are designed to benefit students who are coached by professional tutors before the test.

”We always knew my Jack was a clever boy and thought the system would pick that up. It didn’t. Instead, it is rewarding kids who have been to coaching colleges seven days a week and that is wrong,” she said.

Ms Mannix is taking the NSW Education Department to court in an effort to gain access to the exact set of questions her kids answered and after her repeated requests to see the documents were rejected.

This story is stirring up debate about the definition of the term ‘gifted’ and whether one test is really enough to determine if a child is more talented than his or her peers.  If you think your kid is gifted and a test proves otherwise, can you fight the result? Or do you have to accept that tests are designed specifically to do the best they can for the greater good?

And what do these tests actually prove after all? There are many kinds of intelligence and not all of them can be measured (let alone accurately) by asking a 10-year-old to complete a series of complicated mathematical problems and grammar puzzles.

Ms Mannix’s complaints are prompting questions about the structure of selective school testing. For example whether kids who have access to coaches are at an advantage to others and whether parents are placing too much pressure on their children and on the schools that are supposed to propel their kids to future awesomeness.

While the debate rages, we also have to ask if this is simply another case of every parent believing their own child is a special little snowflake. We all love our kids. We all want the best for them. And we all believe in them. But is there a point where you have to simply accept the ruling of an external arbitrator and concede that maybe your precious baby isn’t a genius after all?

We’re keen to know your thoughts. Does your child go to a selective school? Would you like them to? Have your kids ever sat any kind of school entrance test?

Source: The Daily Telegraph.