>>376420564GATE was just another type of special ed for kids with Aspergers.
In the '70s and '80s they started "mainstreaming" disabled kids in public schools instead of sending them off to mental institutions. But these kids were often disruptive and hard to teach, so the schools would put them in special ed classes with a teacher trained to deal with retards.
Schools started getting massive amounts of funding from the government per each kid in special ed. They realized that if they started putting more kids in special ed classes, they would get more money and thus GATE was created for the kids that weren't full blown retards, but weren't normal either.
"Gifted" was just a euphemism for "high functioning autistic" similar to "special." But a lot of boomer parents were so narcissistic that they thought it meant "high intelligence."
IQ tests were given to make sure the kid wasn't completely retarded, most GATE kids were average intelligence.
The reason the GATE classes all used similar teaching materials and activities were because the schools would all get their materials from textbook companies.
GATE kids often did activities like logic puzzles, games with abstract shapes, and sound stimulation partly as busywork to keep them autisticly hyperfocused, and partly as a way for the GATE instructor to evaluate the kids' autism by observing their reaction. They wanted to see if the kid was normal, autistic but high functioning enough to survive in normal society without any extra attention, or with an actual handicap that would require additional treatment.
There was nothing nefarious or weird about it, it wasn't some secret CIA plot. All those other weird things that seem to be common among kids who were in GATE are just that, coincidences.
GATE wasn't some mkultra shit, and you weren't placed in it because you are a genius.
You were in GATE because one of your teachers noticed that you were weirder than the other kids and they thought you might have autism.
