> but I'd say every child (and adult!) has gifts - every child is exceptional Isn't this basically nonsense? Are you sure every child is exceptional in some wa

> but I'd say every child (and adult!) has gifts - every child is exceptional Isn't this basically nonsense? Are you sure every child is exceptional in some way? How do you know? Have you measured? How would you react to a perfectly ordinary, unremarkable child? Would your worldview just collapse? What does the word "exceptional" mean to you? > quality that isn't necessarily intrinsic Why does the intrinsicness of the property matter? > learning environment that meets their potential How would you label people who have high potential? What about low potential? Now, in the interest of clarity and simplicity, what single word would you use to label each category? > aren't given out to all students, they must be recommended for it by their teachers To my knowledge they are given out to all students at a particular grade/age - YMMV. If teachers must select students then clearly teacher bias would be a factor.