In the 1980s and 1990s, many of the brightest students in the US were enrolled in the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program, designed to foster advanced learning and critical thinking. Decades later, some former participants are speculating whether the program had a hidden agenda. One woman, who gained attention on social media for her posts about the topic, shared images of her old workbooks showing unexpected activities, such as code-breaking and learning Russian. These unusual exercises have fueled theories linking the GATE program to a classified CIA initiative called “Gateway,” which reportedly explored the boundaries of human consciousness through methods like sound patterns and meditation. A declassified CIA document describes “non-verbal audio patterns” concealed within natural sounds like waves and wind. Interestingly, some former GATE students recall being exposed to similar audio recordings during their time in the program. One participant shared memories of wearing large headphones and listening to recordings facilitated by people unaffiliated with the school. A woman who goes by Anna Mills shared some of the worksheets from her school’s GATE program that included several assignments on cracking codes and deciphering messages. There are no reports linking the CIA to American schools, but former students of GATE shared some of the worksheets, activities and assignments they completed, leaving them baffled. “Some tests were basic IQ assessments, but others involved meditation-like exercises,” one former student recalled. “We listened to a woman’s voice on tape, and it felt like we were being guided into some kind of altered state.” A few ex-students have even preserved recordings that begin with high-pitched tones followed by a man’s voice saying, “This is the first step along your path to a gateway. Beyond lies discovery—your own discovery of reality, truth, and your essence.” These accounts have led to speculation that the GATE program might have been part of covert CIA research on human consciousness. However, others argue that such activities could have been innocuous exercises aimed at fostering creative problem-solving and advanced learning. It remains unclear whether these experiences were tied to a secretive government program or simply unique educational strategies. The post Were Gifted Classes in the ’80s and ’90s Linked to a Secret CIA Program? appeared first on Anomalien.com.