WOW---very eye openning

Yeah I agree with you there always will be exceptions, what the teachers call "off the chart" kids, who are on either extrem of the bell curve...

I remember when we first started kinder, the principal at the public school wrote a very passionate article, refuting the requests from parents asking for gifted classes. One of his major arguments is that kids at elementary school who knows more textbook knowledge could not be considered "gifted", they just have more knowledge. Instead of pressuring children (one of the ways would be putting them into gifted classes in elementary), adults should give children more space to develop and grow. Providing the nuturing environment and the idle time are the best gifts for the children to discover the develop themselves.

It is surprising that kids at 8th grade got dragged into all these competitive stuff...I can appreciate the pressure parents feel too as they do care a lot about their kids...

Well, I hope this never occurs in our neighborhood...