I've just had an epiphany about this--
the problem here isn't inherently about acceleration, but it's related to "What a Child Doesn't Learn," but about what they have learned instead.
Our kids who aren't challenged in their earliest schooling experiences learn that formal learning environments are about demonstration of mastery/competence, NOT "learning, making mistakes, and growing in understanding." They learn that pleasure comes from KNOWING, not from LEARNING. (Or it had better, if they intend to not spend most of their time miserable-- they adapt to a fixed mindset because of environmental pressures...)
Then in the wake of acceleration, if there is an unresolved lack of challenge, the child interprets this as normal. The contrast, though, leads to labeling the area of appropriate challenge as "too hard" by comparison. Okay, so most of the new placement is "easy" and these few areas feel way hard... ergo, "I struggle at {difficult task}. I don't have very strong skills in that area." It's not an illogical conclusion in a person without much life experience.
ETA: I've also identified why my gut has always maintained that EARLY acceleration is so important-- the more gifted the child, the MORE important. That reason? Consider how rapidly such children learn things. And how permanently they know them. Sobering.
. I completely agree with your epiphany. Everything you said is how i see it with my DS. This is exactly like my ds9 who skipped third grade this year. I have always said he doesn't know how to "learn". I believe this is because he has never really had to learn. He has just known or understood or retained the first time he hears it. If he doesn't understand something he is almost impossible to teach. He shuts down. He is so used to everything being so easy and just being good at everything that has come his way that he has never had to learn how to learn. This is one of the reasons I pushed so hard to have him accelerated. I didn't want him to go through school never having to work at all or learn how to learn. My bother and mother both said they were in collage and graduate school when they had to learn how to study. I didn't want that for my DS. I also was concerned he would become lazy if he never had to work at something. Does this make sense?
