What I'm getting at is that, if the reason a child was started in school later than s/he was eligible to start was due to really pushy parents and a desire to have the child appear better (academically, in sports or whatever) than the other kids, that type of mentality doesn't likely change. With a parenting mentality like that, it can make for a child who is hothoused into appearing to belong in a GT class.
I try to remind myself that someone else's decision to hothouse doesn't change who my children are. On that level, it doesn't really matter to me what others do (except that it makes me feel bad for the hothoused child).
A positive, I suppose, could be that my children (who are in typical grade for age) have peers a year older--instant placement with older peers! Does that count as acceleration? (Just kiddin' folks) LOL...
I think the primary reason that it chafes, is that so many of us have had our attempts to explain/get help for our DCs met with suspicion in school, and when DD9 is compared to redshirted DD10, it is sometimes more difficult for the school to recognize learning differences.
In our district there has been a lot of discussion about identification and programming. The question has been raised as to why a bright, high acheiving child who is not gifted should not be able to participate in the same types of learning opportunities as those given to gifted students (or, in the case of our school, *theoretical* opportunities
). For instance, should there be a litmus test to enter honors sections in high school? Or should anyone wanting to take it on, be able to take it on? After all, they would be incurring the risk of a lower grade if they are actually not up to the challenge. For the most part, I like this generalized access. However, I think that there is a danger too, because as teachers we need to let assessment and learning drive instruction. If a group becomes overly weighted with bright, but not gifted students, and therefore a majority of students are not able to meet the initially high bar set for pace and product, then gifted students may once again find themselves in classes that are moving to slowly and demanding too little.
