[SauronOfMordor]

as far as education goes, people with special gifts should be nurtured, but not to the point where we have the majority of children leaving school without knowing how to read, or write, or knowing basic history so they can be good citizens...

I'm not talking about neglecting the majority. I'm talking about the disproportionate funding that goes to the education of the bottom 5% (ie, "special ed"), who also happen to be most disruptive to the learning environment

If we took the extra money that currently goes to special-ed, and used more of it to ensure that poor-but-gifted students developed to their full potential, the US would be more prosperous. And by reversing the "mainstreaming" of disruptive special-ed kids into classrooms where the other kids actually would like to learn, we can stop holding back the majority as well.

[Amelia]

If we took the extra money that currently goes to special-ed, and used more of it to ensure that poor-but-gifted students developed to their full potential, the US would be more prosperous. And by reversing the "mainstreaming" of disruptive special-ed kids into classrooms where the other kids actually would like to learn, we can stop holding back the majority as well.

Note that these policies are the result of court cases, and teachers, administrators, and school systems pretty well have their hands tied on how to deal with special ed. students.