> So what if programs don’t elevate all possible gifted children? Well, that depends on who is being excluded and why. If the process is run by human selection

> So what if programs don’t elevate all possible gifted children? Well, that depends on who is being excluded and why. If the process is run by human selection, politics are inevitably involved. Assuming there is a positive net outcome for selected students, there is even more pressure to 'lobby' and 'influence' the decision. Also, if the number of slots is small, but the cutoff isn't in line with percentiles of children in the population, there could potentially be more children on the cusp that aren't selected than those that were selected. This could mean that the assumed net positive effect of 'elevating' the small group is outweighed by a net negative effect of not elevating those on the edge, even though they were arbitrarily cut off. Those are just a few reasons.