I was appalled to be told that there were "no real differences" between children who are 99.9th percentile (like mine-- and like many of the children here) and those at the 90th percentile.
That, in my mind, simply bespoke a profound ignorance on the subject. Even my then-8yo knew there was a huge difference, and she lived it every time she interacted with her "GT" peers.
It's probably terrifying to some people.
So therefore, it can't exist.
This reminds me of when my son was approved for a skip a few years ago by our elementary school, and the district. The district strongly suggested he skip to the gifted middle school. But when I met with the principal she said she'd never met a kid who needed to skip, that she didn't believe in it, that their gifted instruction worked for every kid, no matter how gifted. (She also didn't believe in levels of giftedness.) She said we could go ahead and skip anyway, since she couldn't stop it, but she couldn't guarantee my son's safety from bullying.
BTW, she's not at the school anymore. She was promoted to director of curriculum for all middle schools in our district.
