blake murphy > wrote in
:

> well, that's still one of the unspoken aims. but i would be
> very much surprised if modern schools actually stomped on the
> gifted as you and jean describe. they might not *help* them
> much, but i don't think they actually get in their way.

i understand there are school systems that actually do help the
gifted kids, but only systems with excellent special ed programs (so
the other end of the spectrum also gets a lot of benefit as well),
but i've never seen one in action.
in most schools, yes, they DO get in the way of the upper end kids.
they rarely allow skipping grades to get a child up with it's
intellectual peers, because the whole "age peer" thing is so sacred.
they expect the smarter kids to slow themselves to the class level
(but ghods forfend they should act bored!).
really, if teachers were allowed to teach & not waste time on stupid
administrative bullcrap, i think that would help. teachers spend up
to 5 hours of the 7 hour school day on admin. stuff, which leaves the
kids either floundering with their workbooks or bored because they've
already finished but can't go further.
lee