I'm curious how much it would cost for all of America's public schools to offer higher level classes to whoever wanted them, without a cut-off, but with no guarantee of passing either. �Even if the classes had to combine a few grades to make the student/teacher ratio worthwhile. �And charge each parent cash to attend. �A couple hundred a year would cover the school's extra cost and be more affordable than a few thousand a year for private school. �If so many parents want their kids in gifted classes so badly it's not gifted envy or label envy, it's a sign many parents think American public school �education is substandard. �If the so called watered down "gifted classes" are what so many parents want, why shouldn't the school offer it? �What's the worse that happens? �We raise the standard of education in the country. �It wouldn't help the gifted community, but it would help the country.
We would still need to come up with a separate system for exceptional or special needs kids on either end, but this would solve the problem seen here of kids being passed off as gifted just because the system sucks and the parents don't see any other choice to get a decent education. �The gifted would be right where they are now, patchworking solutions with various accelerations. �Or maybe I'm wrong and just don't get it and the parents are trying to grow orange trees from apple seeds. �But I give most people better credit than that. �I think they just want a better alternative to the dumbed down classes they'd get otherwise.
It's like Taminy said (more better than I) that if that many non-gifted kids are keeping up in those classrooms then it should be more widely available to the public. �I just offered a cheap, practical way to offer it and still keep all the education budget cuts our new trillion dollar national budget seems to suggest that we need.
