[TallGuyShort]

Yes, exactly - that's one of the points I was trying to make. A curriculum that teaches kids far slower than most of them are capable of learning makes an average-ish student from a better curriculum look "gifted". My experience before and after schooling in the US is that I'm not an exceptional genius, but I sure felt like one in class, and that sucks for all the kids who were just as smart as me but had a shitty education in fairly well-funded school districts. I had the benefit of recognizing I could do better and learning a lot at home. Many other kids would just assume they're not gifted and on-par and not expect more from their education, or wouldn't have the resources to learn better at home anyway.