The thing is, a child of average build and coordination can be trained to become a great dancer. I don't expect that children with greater potential as dancers suddenly, at six months old, just teach themselves the Charleston as if it were an innate pattern in their superior dancer minds. So I think the analogy is weak.

I can't think of a better way to say it. Maybe something like, "You can't teach a sparrow to soar by telling it to flap its wings harder." But then that sounds offensive.

Speaking of offensive, are there any gifted child jokes floating around, like How many gifted children does it take to screw in a lightbulb?