Most of the disruptors aren't that small percentage of the small percentage of GT in public schools.
The OPs right, but American exceptionalists still running the same kind of experiment that failed in China, the Soviet Union, Sa'udiyya, and numerous other countries can't admit it. To do so would be ego-crushing.
We praise Finland, say we want to emulate it, and focus on in-class traditional work. The Czechs and Germans got it before the Finns did. Test kids; those in category A put in vocational classes; those in category B do skilled jobs; those in C are bound for a liberal arts field; those in D shove into technical fields. Figure out how many experts in X you need, fund that many slots plus a few extra for shrinkage. Make sure there's a way to reposition kids who are wrongly labelled.
Instead we have a one-size-fits-all mentality, and it sucks. It means that I had an ADHD kid in my class who needed a minder. Turn away for a minute and he's in the hall. Take 3 minutes to get him into the classroom and the 8 or so kids who see no point in school at all go off task. Get them on task and the ADHD kid's already into the next hall. And the other 20 students? And if I'm doing a lab at the time? It's the system. Such kids should have an aide--but out of respect for the individual such an aide must be requested by the parents, and while Congress said they'd fund SpEd and special services they haven't--even under Obama, even under Clinton.
Why did he need a minder? Because his father fought the idea of drugs for his kid, then took them away to punish him for backtalk. And told me it was my fault because I should be able to handle the kid in a class with 29 other students while trying to instruct them and to the administrative overhead ... even though the father just had one kid and couldn't handle him. The dad got him his meds. Now he sleeps because he's groggy. Either way, I'm failing him. Don't know what to do differently. Between his biology and his father, I'm a bad teacher.
Of course it doesn't help that teens' biology say "go-go-go" on the average until past 11 pm, and they should sleep until long after dawn. It's only recently that we've seen daylight before first period bell, but that's no longer the case with DST. Again, bad system. Their biology is my personal responsibility.
It's the same with the mother who beamed when she told me her kid was finally old enough to quit school and get a real job. As a bagger at Safeway.
And the mother who had no problem with her kid failing spring semester classes so he was a sophomore on his 20th birthday. Because it gave him extended time in the fall to be on the football team. "College? No, he'll be NFL, a starter from his first day." Kid read at an elementary school level. He was a sophomore still when he turned 21 and was exited from the public education system.
Let's not mention the "personal circumstance" of the kid who fell for the NBP's racist bullshit. "I ain't learning this. Ohn's law is white people's law, it doesn't apply to black people. We need black people to come up with our own laws. Those I'd learn." Words failed me then; they fail me now. He obviously fell for the "Black Lies Matter" propaganda. His mother was pissed when it was two weeks before graduation she realized he was failing and wouldn't graduate. She apologized for him.
Personal circumstances. Indeed.
As for overcrowding, I can handle a class of 35 and screw up a class of 20. Depends on the kids. It can even be the exact same teacher, subject, topic, materials, presentation or lab. "Differentiate" is a buzzword based on "learning styles," but all that does is cater to preferences; as for actual learning styles, there ain't no evidence. It's socially constructed knowledge that rests on small sample sizes and no controls and lots of "I assume" and "I feel".
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