I also think that if you are talking about a system revision, you have to look at the flip side of the coin too. I realize that this is a forum for GT kids, but we should not forget children who are average or lower. It is not as easy to get services for "lower than average" kids either.
Well, I don't want to get into a "who has it worse" competition, but my son's 1st grade class was located right next to the special ed classroom. I saw TWO adults working 1-on-1 with kids. (That's more than one! Each time I was in the school, regardless of the time of day. It seemed to be the norm.)
Now, I do not begrudge the children that help. But meanwhile, my HG+ child was sitting in a regular classroom getting NO services whatsoever. No pullout, no differentiation, no nothing. (There's my "nothing with a bow on it," BTW...) He learned literally nothing in the 6 weeks he was in 1st grade except that he was a bad kid who got in trouble all the time, that he was the smartest kid he knew (ugh), and that school was frustrating and pointless.
If the school had given him even a little bit of 1-on-1 attention--let alone 2-on-1!--and we'd still have him in the public schools!
And don't get me started on the conversations I've had with a new friend who can't get over the fact that there's NO money or special public school setting for my son, when her developmentally disabled son the same age is getting a free, specialized education at a school just for him. "That makes no sense," she keeps saying. "If they can serve my son, why can't they serve yours?"
So while things aren't ideal for developmentally disabled kids, they're a whole lot better than what I see for GT kids. After all, if I'm aspiring to the services granted to developmentally disabled kids, then that says something about how bad it is, right?
