All students have strengths that should be identified and fostered. Some children are outstanding and would be stultified by the standard curriculum. Gifted kids are precocious, march to different drummers, and are obsessively interested in certain subjects. They can be introverted, fiercely independent, and emotionally vulnerable. Advanced classes and special schools should not be dismantled in the name of egalitarianism. (38 references) (MLH)