Our school has worked to undermine achievement with my son and other gifties. There have been some scary passive aggressive attempts to make sure the gifties "even out".
This is something for parents to watch out for. Others have also experienced a form of this and brought it forward as well. Whereas that teacher may have chosen books about "princess/ponies/slumber parties" which did not match the interests, plans, or growth trajectory of her students, others have similarly assigned selections which were not appropriate for their classroom audiences of readers, including highly s*xualized books and dystopias. It seems to be a type of intellectual hazing.
While it is important for students to stretch themselves and read works written in a voice from a different culture, point of view, and knowledge base, allowing student choice within a genre may ultimately be best practice.
