ColinsMum, I actually didn't realize that parents of average children truly think they have gifted kids. I've had testing and professionals insisting my child is gifted and yet I still have gifted denial and am embarassed just about anywhere but here to claim she is gifted so it is hard to imagine that with much less to go on, parents can be convinces their little Johnny / Jane is a genius...
Huh. 45% of the student body at my kids' school is staffed as "gifted." It's like a status symbol in our community of doctors/lawyers/indian chiefs. Everyone thinks their kid is a genius. So the kids who really NEED gifted services have to sit
in the classroom, bored to tears, while the "gifted" class catches up on 3+5 and "the cat sat on the mat."
As to your principal, Twinkletoes, you might say, "Yes, perhaps she'll level off in a couple of years, but for now she's bored out of her mind, so couldn't we do something for her now, and worry about leveling off when and if she gets to that point?" In my opinion, it's not fair to make a kid sit for five hours a day doing boring work that's way too easy -- what a waste of time and resources.
