... no GT programs... because that would be unfair to the other students.
The best answer that I've heard to the "unfair to other students" statement is a story along these lines: A student athlete falls over. The mandatory AED defibrillation equipment is nearby. Is it "fair" to the other students for the coach to turn his attention from the majority of the team to help this ONE student? Utilizing the defibrillator would mean this ONE student may be getting more attention in the short-term. What is the ethical answer?
The answer is "yes", it is fair to the other students to serve this ONE student because it is NEEDS-based. This ONE student NEEDS the defibrillation, and needs it NOW. The others do not have the same NEED.
It is not a perfect analogy because in a school setting it would not be an either-or approach... both the rest of team and the one with the NEED could be served, by flexible cluster grouping by readiness and ability.
Possibly the NEED is more obvious in the above example, as compared with an educational setting:
The gifted student who does not receive appropriate intellectual challenge and support according to their NEED sustains damage internally before it shows externally and interpersonally in terms of underachievement, perfectionism, poor self-esteem, self-harm, and/or generally displaying attitudes mirroring those which the child has been subject to throughout the educational experience... which may be characterized as dismissive indifference, invalidation, undermining... (attitudes, which when adopted and exhibited by the child are termed "bad attitude"). There are also things which
kids don't learn, if they are not appropriately challenged.
There is a famous poem
"Children Live What They Learn" by Dorothy Law Nolte. This applies to the influence of school as well as to home life, due to the fact that children spend so much of their time in the educational setting and are receiving feedback from a large number of individuals.
There is also a T-shirt with a saying by Stephanie Tolan:
"You don't have the moral right to hold one child back to make another child feel better."
