Blue Magic, I too would love to know who this 'someone' is who decided hanging out in MS until any passion you ever had for learning just for the sake of learning is a faint glimmer. If it were up to me, we'd go back to the K - 8 model.
K-8 model doesn't fix this problem. The standards for what the kids learn is set mostly by the state & district. What I find makes the most difference is individual teachers. My older DD went to a public K-8 for all nine years. My son only his first 4 years, we moved him when my daughter went to H.S. and he got into the districts gifted program. While there were good things about the K-8 school and I was overall happy with the school for my daughter. The middle school at the K-8 is a lot smaller and it had fewer resources for the gifted kids than the large junior high my son attended.
