One friend, a former teacher, shrugged off my concerns. The kids know anyway who the bright ones are. I talked with the Talent Pool teacher, a warm and giving woman. In fact, the low score cast a shadow on my self-confidence and permanently changed the way I see myself. Experiments in real classrooms have shown the power of a teacher's expectations.
Children blossom or fade according to the teacher's vision of their ability.
Knowing this, we're obligated to use this power only to encourage children and free them, never to limit their potential or undermine their confidence. The children themselves are in no position to protest. But now and then you might come across some evidence of their silent hurt. I'm thinking of a mother who felt at first that our objections to Talent Pool were a little wacky. But her daughter in Junior High was depressed and feeling like an outsider.