I wish that my DD's school could truly wrap their heads around the idea that noooooooooo, "leaving the GT kids alone" isn't the same thing (at all) as providing them with "appropriate" education.
My DD is PG. Yes, thank you-- but wait, I have something important to add and which school staffers seem to be thinking is incompatible with this statement...
She is NOT an "autodidact" who learns best in a vacuum with occasional mediocre or incomplete 'resources' tossed her direction.
She needs TEACHING. Not "benign" neglect.
She also needs to be allowed to work at a level that feels truly meaningful to her. So quit asking my daughter for plot summaries in AP literature, quit asking for "timelines" in history class, quit asking for ten of the same simple math problem on homework.
Ask her to solve THORNY problems, to write about interpretation below the surface text of a novel, ask her to tell you about racial biases and foreign policy...
Grr. If you do, I guarantee you that she will knock your sock off.
Provide a floor-- and a stepladder, if you please. And then-- get rid of the ceiling.
