Just to chime in with the other experience- due to a bout of mono, I had to repeat 7th grade. I was already young for the grade, and as we had just moved state

Just to chime in with the other experience- due to a bout of mono, I had to repeat 7th grade. I was already young for the grade, and as we had just moved stateside, I was having trouble integrating socially. The repeat year was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was finally with my age-peer group, was appropriately socially aware, and just had a better scholastic experience across the board for the rest of my early education. I completely agree that much of early education is simple life experience, and it does the academically-gifted students no favors to push speed at the expense of everything else.