[TheOtherHobbes]

That's a function of available resources.

With more resources for teaching it would be perfectly possible for schools to look for individual talent and work to develop it.

Supposedly the better private - public in the UK - schools try to do this already. With fees as they are, they certainly have the resources for it.

I know someone who went through public school and was in a music class of exactly two pupils. The school also worked hard to provide relevant professional contacts.

So with someone talented, a teacher wouldn't be thinking about limited time, but about whether there were any local startups/companies who might want an intern.

It's not disrespect by the teachers, so much as disrespect by a political system that tries to limit these kinds of opportunity to a tiny fraction of the population.