What is sad is that this is exactly the reason why we just pulled out of public school and went back to homeschooling. The principal of the school had a real chip on his shoulder concerning gifted children. I honestly believe that the school systems today are completely sucking children dry of all their original thoughts and creative problem solving :-(
A brief word on behalf of all teachers out there (of which I am one): We are expected to educate the masses. This means, in our current climate, that we not only have the occasional gifted kid in our classrooms, but also the physically disabled, learning disabled, mentally challenged, emotionally disturbed, attention-deficit, hyperactive, and English language learner - not to mention the fact that in some classrooms, there exists a poverty rate of over 90% (which is generally correlated with lack of parent involvement - which is generally correlated with poor student achievement). Imagine the meetings at the beginning of the year: The teachers are all sitting at tables staring at state assessment data for 8 hours with the principal droning on about AYP, telling them they're doing a crappy job, and demanding that instructional interventions be written up for the lowest students. These plans consist of 60 minutes each day during which the teacher works in small groups with low kids while everyone else completes independent work (code for what amounts to crossword puzzles or silent reading). The students above the 50th percentile aren't even glanced at. This is not the principal's fault - she is simply the messenger.
As a gifted teacher, I am fortunate in that most of my kids are motivated when challenged and come from homes with involved parents. However, I have taught in regular education classrooms with kids who drop the F-Bomb as part of their regular interaction with adults, get pregnant at 13, and can barely read their own names. This is NOT a failure of our teachers. It is a failure of our culture. It is a failure of our American system in which achievement and intellect are supposed to be valued but our system of government tries to make everyone equal.
So yes, in a sense, the system does "suck creativity and original thought" out of our kids - but I don't really see that teachers have much of a choice. No one can learn when Johnny and Deon are bouncing off the walls, Sarah is crying because she misses her mommy, Spencer has eaten only one meal in the last 24 hours (lunch at school), Brittany has severe dyslexia and needs everything read for her, Jose and Jorge are oblivious to anything because they can't speak English, and Matthew has just threatened to bash in the head of another student because he didn't get to count the money in the math activity. Not that it's right, but the easiest thing for the teacher to do is get everyone on the same page, try to reign in the most severe behavior problems, and do her best get the low kids passing the state assessments (because her job may depend on it). And this isn't just in the urban schools - we live in a suburban district with high test scores, and my kindergarten daughter comes home every day with stories about some girl in her class with severe behavior problems - screaming, throwing fits on the floor, scribbling all over other kids' papers, etc. However, the school is forced to educate this kid unless she hurts another student. So my child will undoubtedly suffer because the teacher spends 80% of her time dealing with one or more of these type of kids. No one's going to pay attention to my well-behaved daughter who quietly circles the "A's" on her worksheet of alphabet soup at school but asks in-depth questions about evolution around the dinner table. Not saying it's right, but it's the way the system is set up. And I really think most teachers are doing the best they can with the cards they've been given.
