The teacher doesn't come across as mean to me. She is simply making a statement. He hasn't done the work, so he is not getting a grade from her.
My dd was grade skipped from 2nd to 4th (because of her art teacher's recommendation). Because of the grade skip there were things she needed to work on to catch up to the kids in the new grade. Not many, but a few skills that are taught in 3rd grade (handwriting for example). I made it clear to my dd that if she wanted to be in 4th, she needed to do the work 4th graders are doing. Once we decided to let her skip, we no longer treated her as a 3rd grader. Over the summer, she worked on handwriting so she would be ready for 4th grade in the fall. She is further grade skipped in math, but again, I expect her to be able to do the same work as the kids in her math class even though she is much younger than they are.
I am not a great proponent of grade skips, unless the child is ready to take all the work that would be required in the next grade level. Otherwise, I favor acceleration in the specific subject the child is ready for.
As Ania pointed out, why an art magnet?
Our kids are very good at picking cues from us. If you child perhaps senses that you don't think art is such a big deal, maybe he is reacting to that?
