Wyldkat, I too could not have let something like that pass if I genuinely felt that what you believe occurred, occurred. What I perhaps I would have done differently is that I would have explained to him that he hadn't gotten through via the school process, and that you were surprised given the quality of his project. I would have said that you really felt that his project was deserving and had spoken to the his teacher from his independent learning program, who agreed and that it had been determined he could enter through the program rather than the school. I probably would have explained that these things can be subjective, but that quality work is worth standing up for (which I strongly believe) and that if you know something you've done is worthwhile it is worth investigating all the angles.
Re the woman, I would like to think that I would have been ultra gracious and let her know Wolf had been entered through the ILP, and wished her children luck - but in reality I probably would have ended up saying something along the lines of what you did.
In terms of the lesson about injustice, I'd probably couch it instead in terms of a discussion about the implications of subjectivity and its existence being the reason you need to stand up for work you believe in (including the importance of feedback from others to make sure you're really on track). Rarely (if ever?) are things ever genuinely chosen 100% on merit.
