I believe being gifted is like a learning disability in the average school. I recall reading about the 7-yo exceptionally gifted boy who, when asked what doctors do, could not answer. After all, there are so many different doctors for so many things. He almost certainly felt dumb and humiliated. Every other child in an average class could answer the question, just as the teacher expected.
Rinse and repeat this feeling of being dumb or not fitting in multiple times every day for a child of that variety, and what do you expect them to do? Fidget, fuss, doodle, clown, stare, daydream. Are they supposed to conjure a non-existent inner Zen master and sit patiently and without thought while the rest of the class and the teacher work toward conclusions that he, seemingly by intuition, grasped long ago? What's the point? Why am I here? That leaf on the tree outside is so much more interesting...
Add even a minor ADHD or learning disability into the mix and it functions like a huge monkey wrench. The anxiety and self-image issues and coping strategies such a situation would generate may soon eclipse and obscure the root causes.
All that to say, I'm practically talking myself into homeschooling here.
