I hate to be that guy, but we need to be making these choices based on overall benefit vs cost to society. What is the benefit to society of providing the best

I hate to be that guy, but we need to be making these choices based on overall benefit vs cost to society. What is the benefit to society of providing the best possible education to a person who will never hold any kind of position of responsibility in society? A person who will spend their entire life under some kind of supervised care? Often trying to cram an education down these kids throats is more traumatic than useful. And society is going to pay 1.2 million for the satisfaction of torturing this unfortunate child for a decade? What is the point of that? Wouldn’t money be better spent paying a part time aide for the child at home with the goal of maximising quality of life, working directly with their primary caregiver? That could cost around 25k and have a much better outcome. We should be investing heavily in our brightest students, investing in practical applied knowledge for the majority, and focusing on critical thinking and independent learning skills for everyone. The unfortunate few that will not be able to meaningfully participate and will require support and supervision lifelong should be prepared in such a way to maximise their prospects for comfort and happiness, not trying to give them skills they can’t absorb and will not use in a misguided feel-good “see, they can do it!” effort that costs every other child in the school a better education so that we can pat ourselves on the back for giving it the best try. Fighting evolution is a losing battle every time. Better to swim with the stream and amplify the beneficial effects while minimising the downsides as possible. Civilisation is ultimately an engineering problem. Social engineering, governance and finance engineering, civil engineering, sadly now geoengineering. If we did any other kind of engineering on an equal outcome basis we’d be trying to launch carts into space with oxen. We need to focus on doing things that produce useful outcomes, not pretending that we can somehow fix the inherent injustice of unsolvable disadvantage- and certainly not cutting everyone else off at the knees to keep anyone from getting too far ahead. Well implemented gifted and talented programs and advanced academic tracks produce value for society, raise families out of poverty, and change lives. Special needs education below a certain minimum level is a sunk cost fallacy in action.