Here's a look into the future for you folks with young kids entering the "educational" system.
My DYS DS16 is now in 11th grade and has a 4.30 weighted GPA in high school. It wasn't always this way. He started off in regular public school until identified as gifted in 2nd grade. He moved to center-based gifted program for 3rd grade and then moved to a selective private school in 4th grade when we relocated.
In both lower and middle school his grades were always acceptable but not spectacular. I would say most of his teachers through the years were not comfortable with him or outright did not like DS, even his gifted teacher in 3rd grade. He is a divergent thinker and K-8 teachers really do not appreciate out of the box thinking at all no mater what they say. My DS spends almost all of his time outside of the box. A good example is the times tables - his teacher wanted him to memorize and regurgitate at speed to demonstrate mastery. He told the teacher that all of the information was right there in a neat table and he shouldn't have to memorize it as he had more important things to think about. Yikes!
High school teachers appreciate this ability slightly more but still have difficulties. Throughout his school career, DS has been penalized because he doesn't speak up often in class. According to him he only chooses to speak up when a teacher explains something incorrectly or the rest of the class is stumped. DS doesn't really care about grades or sucking up to teachers so he refuses to play the game of speak-up-for-bonus-points.
Back to my thoughs on math - because DS refused to play along with the teacher/school he was never advanced as fast as some other kids in his grade. He took Alg I in 7th, Alg II in 8th, Honors Geo & Trig in 9th, Honors Pre-Calc & AP Statistics in 10th and is now in AP Calc AB. He has been bored in every class because everything moves so slowly. Every year I ask if he can take a course over the summer to accelerate the pace of his math education and the school tells me "No, your son is appropriately challenged." I asked if he could skip AP Calc AB and go straight to BC and they told me it would be too difficult. Hello!?! A challenge is what we were looking for in the first place. As math has gotten more difficult each year for most students, it has actually gotten easier for DS. He probably should have started calc in 9th grade.
I think it is tough for k-12 teachers to deal with kids who have significantly more brain power than themselves.
DS is now involved in a NASA sponsored high school program in Virginia where he is working on a mission to Mars. He has to research and submit technical papers on mission design. Luckily, his outside of the box approach is appreciated in this environment.
Recently, DS decided he is going to Caltech or MIT. He is well aware that those schools are super-reach schools for everyone but he is confident his essays will be his golden ticket. His plan is to apply to Caltech and MIT early action. He also will apply to UVA and William & Mary regular decision. It's so weird to hear him speak of UVA and W&M like they are safety schools.
Oh well, such is life with a "different" kind of kid.
