Well, but probably not in their minds. I find that perspective-taking is a very useful thing, here.
Most people don't become educators or administrators for the express purpose of controlling others or indulging in an endless power trip.
The pay just isn't that good, for one thing, and you don't have the kind of autonomy that would make it worth it.
So why DO they do it?
Because they like teaching, because they like kids, something along those lines. I seldom assume that a teacher DISLIKES my child. That usually isn't true, even when there is some hostility in play. Usually they are trying to leverage something out of her... whether we agree or not... and usually they have the best of intentions, however misguided.
So if you are having an advocacy problem, one of several things is almost always the case:
a) communication lapse
b) good faith on both sides, but philosophical irreconcilable differences
c) lack of data to support a conclusive, data-driven result.
In the case of GT advocacy, it can be all of those things. But it is very seldom active malice. (Now, I won't say never, because we've been there, but it's rare.)
So my take is that I look at those three factors and ask what I can do to better understand where the other person is coming from (often they have anecdote informing a position which is profoundly at odds with what we believe and have experienced ourselves), how I can diplomatically CHANGE that perspective with more data or better communication, and finally, a hard look at my OWN biases and consideration of whether or not the other party has a point that I am not heeding sufficiently well.
So when the school said to us;
"You can't both skip AND place into GT coursework. Both are options for differentiation, but you have to choose which one to use."
We considered the source (a person who didn't know my DD and wasn't familiar with her as a student) and referred that person to experts that s/he WOULD listen to (my DD's teachers), since we weren't getting through.
I'm big on "show me where it says that" in advocacy problems. It clarifies what is policy, what is law, and what is one person's opinion. You'd be surprised how often those things become conflated in educational bureaucracy.
