As can be seen 'politics' enters into the process of identifying the more talented or the gifted or whatever term one might choose to define those more capable of learning.
For a society to neglect the gifted children in favor of wasting money and resources on the less capable is outrageous and a disaster for any nation.
You're about 15% correct. We do need our educational system to better meet the needs of gifted children in order to help them reach their full potential. However, it's not anywhere near as simple as you seem to think that it is. It's not a matter of "wasting money and resources" on "less" capable. What you need to first recognize is that truly gifted children comprise 5-10% of the student population. The educational system is intended to provide all students with the basic requirements to become functional members of society. As much as I support empowering gifted children to excel, it's nonsensical to prioritize the 10% excelling over 90% reaching basic requirements.
The main problem is that for all that we do know and understand about giftedness, there is a great deal that we also don't understand in an actionable way. Gifted children are not merely extra capable. They also have many specialized needs. Currently, our country's failures to provide exemplary opportunity for gifted children is related more to having good ways to meet all of those needs. Once upon a time the drug of choice, if you will, was to advance children grade levels. This, however, has many drawbacks and reliance on this alone is a very flawed plan. When I was in grade school it was just starting to become popular for schools to developed clubs and organizations for gifted children. Unfortunately this had several problems as well, especially if the system was not implemented well, and did not well serve those students who actually needed something the most.
Nowadays, educational theory has developed to help solve some of these failures. For example, the old theory that more work equated to more education is being replaced with a greater emphasis on more educational and effective work. This is good for our prognosis on how to empower gifted children, because the educational system is starting to understand that instead of overloading a gifted child with extra work, there can be better ways to give that child the opportunity to meet their potential in a way they are more likely to participate in. Also, the education system now more than ever recognizes that the educational process needs to nurture the whole human being in order for the child to truly be empowered to meet their full potential as contributing members of society. One of the greatest challenges that gifted children face in meeting their potential as adults is "Sheldon Cooper" syndrome, for lack of a better term. The exceptionally gifted have an extraordinarily difficult time developing adequate social skills as they grow and mature, because they have significant difficulty relating to their peers. This fact, alone, is perhaps the greatest challenge to empowering the gifted to reach their potential. Studies have shown that the most successful members of our society tend to have an IQ in the 120-140 range (as measured by the Weschler) but that those who are gifted beyond that range typically end up with substantial difficulty most of their lives, from grade school through their adult careers. The theory is that within that range a person can be intelligent enough to emerge as an effective leader compared to most other people, but still be able to relate to those under him or her. Above that range, people tend to have difficulty relating to others, may even find most other people a hindrance or annoyance, and subsequently do not have much success due to their inability to effectively navigate a social culture full of people who can't begin to understand them, and vice versa. It's a challenge that will not be overcome overnight. But with time our educational system will develop ways to progressively overcome these difficulties.
