A lot of kids aren't allowed by the teacher to use their downtime productively! If getting done early just means you're given more of the same work or have to sit silently and wait, why bother? They'd have to be idiots to agree to that system. Adults are usually given a lot more leeway than kids are in that regard.
And what about when the repetitive, boring work is assigned as homework? As far as I'm concerned, that's the kid's personal time that the teacher is cutting into. For what? More of the same ridiculous work that s/he gave the child all day long. Ugh!
The other issue is the age-appropriateness. A 12yo, say, is much more capable of putting into perspective boring, repetitive assignments and is much more capable of using the self-control necessary to complete said assignments. Early elementary school kids--even GT ones!--often do not have those same abilities. That's not related to character so much as it is normal child development. It's simply not fair to expect a 6 or 7 or 8yo to "buckle down" and practice good time management skills when they don't have those skills yet! We're supposed to be teaching those to them! And from what I've seen, the majority of kids will refuse to learn those skills--will in fact learn bad habits instead!--if we try to teach those skills through the eternal drill of things they already know.
I guess what I'm saying is that I think the principle you're citing is right, Austin, but the implementation of it just doesn't usually work with young GT kids instead of with adults. And in fact, it usually backfires!
