I think gifted = smart. (?)
I grew up thinking other people were very talented at acting like they didn't understand very much. I like the theory that gifted people understand more better. If you explain yourself, and maybe re explain yourself I can understand what you said. My whole life I've seen so many people say, "I don't understand," even when someone rephrases it and whatever. I really used to think they were faking it.
Your other story (I forgot which thread it was on) about a school gifted program calling a high iq "not a sign of giftedness because the kid didn't meet the checklist of common gifted traits" is silly and sad.
Is more education for academically gifted students truly beneficial. If it is truly beneficial then wouldn't non-gifted students benefit? Yes, but not as much. Well even some is better than none. Can we add more education to the regular classroom? Yes, but that would be harder on struggling learners.
Many people would be happy to no longer mention gifted if the public schools could just freely educate all children at a beneficially challenging level and support every child with any learning struggles.
(not me. I'd probably still say it if a situation fitted it it. I like speaking plainly.)
