He's in second grade, so it'll be a long time before he can work to earn $2,500. I know he doesn't have to visit this museum. But say your highly gifted 7-year-old was into oceanography. He read 50 tomes on the subject, cover to cover, researched every aspect of it, and was eating/sleeping/breathing oceanography for two years. But say you lived in Nebraska. If the child was seven, would you tell him, "Maybe you can see the ocean when you're a teenager. You'll probably still be interested in it..." I feel like in that case you're doing the child a disservice by holding him back from something that could be life changing. I doubt wealthy parents would tell their child, "Sorry, you can't see the ocean until you're old enough to earn money to buy your own plane tickets and pay a hotel tab."
It comes down to financial means. Kids with wealthy parents can explore their world and advance their education in ways that other kids cannot. I see so many opportunities flying by. That's why I was curious about educational grants for individual children. All we hear is that the US is falling behind in math and science, but then there's a child like mine who is so incredibly advanced in science, yet he has no opportunities whatsoever to explore this in a real way. I know he can and does get a lot from books, but at some point you have to get up our of your chair.
