G.A.T.E.-way To Elitism

So I’m coding a page about the G.A.T.E. program at a local middle school, and it gets me thinking about the G.A.T.E. program I was in back in elementary school. Basically, the way it worked was this: 4th, 5th, and 6th graders who showed above-average intelligence were tracked into the same classroom from several local schools. They got accellerated coursework, one fieldtrip per month, and basically got to be challenged instead of bored.

By the time I hit middle school, I was a year ahead in math and had all kinds of oddball experience and knowledge under my belt (how many kids do you know who made stop-motion movies about intergalactic ballet in fifth grade?). In high school I was able to get into Honors and AP classes with no problem because I was already a bit accellerated in all core subjects.

I thought this was cool. Several people, including one of my middle school teachers and plenty of my fellow students, thought that kind of thing encouraged elitism. Apparently, in their minds, putting kids who were good in school in their own classes and giving them work at their own pace would make them arrogant and stuck up.

At the time, I was outraged.

Now, looking back, I can see that while at the time I didn’t think all that highly of myself (I was too busy doing homework to develop an overblown ego) I have since become something of an elitist.

And boy, is “elitist” an ugly word. One of my friends and I have discussed it before, and I’m hammering at it in the back of my mind most of the time now, trying to figure out exactly what I think about the subject.

I’m curious about what y’all think. It’s a nasty and complicated subject, and I’m having trouble putting my thoughts into words that don’t sound horribly condescending. Gah.