CFK has a point. I think Val would say that the class wasn't hard enough, though, right? But at some point this is getting awfully theoretical. What's the person actually bringing to the table?

Now, when we are talking about a class being dumbed down you do have more of my attention. An AP class, for instance, ought to prepare one to do well on the AP exam. Calculus ought to teach calculus, not remediate. Etc. If the students can't meet the standards of the class, which should be easy to determine, they should not be in the class. On that we can agree. By the way, this happened to me in school. I was placed in algebra in 7th grade and was struggling, so I was removed and placed in the next level down, whch my parents and I agreed to. (I'm serious about my not being good at math!)

I still am not sure what public school education for the HG+ ought realistically and properly to look like if (as has been argued here many times) these kids also need full teacher instruction. I just don't see how it works. Again, it's not that I think this is especially fair. But what's the model?