I think the reality is that we are all personally responsible for educating our children- not the school system. Sme people do not think they have any personal responsibility in educating their children. We send them to school and we have to finish the job at home- starting before K. Those of us that know we have an important role start reading to our kids even bEfore they are born, we look at life as a teachable moment. We are constantly teaching. So they have 5 years advantage than the child who has not been taught a thing before entering K. It also does not stop at K just because they are " in school now". There are a number of people that think it is the schools job to completely educate our children- that is very far from the truth but it will provide a basic education to function in the lower level of our society with minimum wage jobs unless someone provides enrichment of some kind. I think that the middle and upper classes understand that and take the enrichment in to their own hands. If our kids are gifted- we have a greater responsibility in our part of the job in educating our children to challenge them- we are also lucky because our kids are hungry for it and receptive. However the parent of the underachiever has a similar responsibility to help their child keep up. It has never been only the public schools responsibility to educate our children to the manner that we see fit. They provide a basic education- period. The fact that we get any accomodation or help in teaching our gifted kids in public school- we should really be thankful. sad but true. We can supplement at home or pay for a private school- that's reality. I knew when my 3rd grader tested on standardized tests at a high high school level in science- there was NOTHING the school could do about it( the principal was shocked when we were in his 504 meeting for PANDAS) and took his supplementation in my own hands. We may or may not end up in a private school that accelerates. Right now he wants to stay with his friends-as that is really important as well- so he takes high school text books to school and reads them from time to time. Whether he learns high school Biology in 3rd grade or 5th or even 7th is not a detriment to his growth- there is plenty of time for moving him ahead in accelerated subjects inside a school. I believe it is more likely the middle to upper middle class knows how to enrich better than the lower classes and we know that we have to do more than the basics for our kids to succeed. We also innately understand that not all the education our child receives is from the school. The kids in lower sociology-economic groups may not understand that. We are a dual working house and spend a lot of time at work( definitely more than 40 hours a week each and could probably be compared to people that have more than one job) but our first priority is the kids as soon as we are off and their enrichment is a big part of that. I don't know if the lower socio-economic classes have the same distinctions or have been taught they need to do more to change the patterns. So beyond the likely higher IQ levels in then middle and upper classes the culture that has been taught may also be part of the equation if they don't know they have any responsibility in educating their kids too. We pass our education tradition down to our kids.
