He's 60 or 70-80? When my father was a boy in NYC in the 1920's - 30's he skipped two grades and then went to Stuyvesant High School.
I would double check the details of his education with him - he may have skipped grades. Also - if he lives in a fairly rarified environment he may have NO idea what level an average/below average student is at.
I taught some university classes a couple of years ago and I was given a good piece of advice - to give an "evaluation quiz" the first day. "Trust me, just do it," I was told. Turned out to be extremely valuable, because if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes that first day I NEVER would have believed how lacking the students were in basic skills and prerequisite knowledge. Some of them were just poorly educated, but many of them couldn't retain any material or make pretty obvious connections. And a considerable percentage of the students had almost no concept of how to study or educate themselves on a topic. They lacked work ethic and a sense of responsibility for their education. Google "rate my students" if you want to get an idea of the esteem professors hold their students in.
I can only believe that this differential is even more pronounced at an elementary school level.
I realize that this doesn't contradict your FIL's premise that education for average and below average students should be improved, but I bet if he understood what constitutes "average" these days he wouldn't argue that a classroom geared to this level is appropriate for a highy gifted child.
