As with most large scale organizations, seldom is the whole system sound, you can, however, often find INDIVIDUALS within the system who make a huge difference for your child. I've yet to see what I'd call a great public school as far as TAG education, I have, however, seen numerous outstanding individuals both highly knowledgeable and passionate about GT education at numerous public schools who have made a world of positive impact for our family.
Sure. We've had a whole range of teachers/guidance counselors/classroom aides/what have you, from the magnificent to the downright horrible. I'd still rather they not get into counseling, and let the good ones do what they do best, and the lousy ones do (relatively) no harm.
You could make the argument, I suppose, that it matters whether you're in a 2000-child district or a 150,000-child one. You certainly see more bureaucratic bungling in a bigger one, but I think the effect could be just as devastating on a micro level if you got a lunatic doing the job in a small one.
