[FatherOfCurses]

This gives off "I Am Very Smart" vibes.

I was in a gifted program in grades 5-7, stopped going mainly because I had to travel to another school to attend and it was inconvenient.

I didn't "suffer" being in classes with folks who weren't at my level. The teaching staff did a great job and I never felt like I was being shortchanged. My undiagnosed ADHD means I goofed around a lot, but several of my friends told me after high school that they appreciated me because I helped them see learning from a different angle than their parents or the teachers.

[Aurornis]

Great that it worked for you. I believe everyone should have the choice.

However, please don’t force your experience to be the only allowable experience for others. If some students want to take advanced classes, we should let them.

Refusing to allow students to learn at a faster rate is insanity.

[vacuity]

As someone else mentioned somewhere in this thread, what about public schooling prevents students from learning by themselves? In my experience, the best students I know generally didn't become so due to public or private schooling, but simply personal interest and drive (and perhaps talent, but that is also school-independent).