Why do the smart kids need their own class?

Tonight I go to bed with a very heavy heart. Our family is dealing with a lot and the hits keep coming. This time the target is my oldest boy and I don't know if I should ask for strength to deal with the problem or willpower not to. It hurts my heart for him to come home and echo the same bullying voices from my own childhood. How can someone be 'too smart'? How can kids be so mean?

I know what a critical time this is in his life, because I remember the day that I started hating my 'gift.' I remember the day when I was too much of a goody-two-shoes to swear in front of because I'd tell. I remember being told to just shut up. "No one wants to hear about [insert random fact about the topic we were studying]." "No one cares if you're smart, we don't want you in our group." "Smart girls will never get good boyfriends (jokes on you, I've been married for 5 years, and he's wonderful)."

"Just shut up"

Those words sting. They hurt. They burn into my soul even now, worse now because my son is crying while he repeats the cruel words of his classmates. He tells me that he'd rather be trapped in a video game world and face death fighting monsters than go back to his reading class.

He's 10.

He is ten years old and he would rather face death than his classmates.

You want to know why gifted classes should be mandatory in every school? Why they should be just as prized as the other forms of special ed? People like my son and myself are why. People who are so smart that they don't understand why the algebra equations don't just unravel in your head the way they do in ours. People who are tired of being told to "just shut up." We can't function in everyday classrooms any better than the child with autism or severe ADHD. Kids are cruel, they jump on the 'different is bad' bandwagon. The smart kids need their own safe haven, their own special coach to remind them of what is good and wonderful about them. Yeah, I get that parents should do that, but it's not the same. Kids are at school about 8 hours a day. Teachers and staff become like their family, their home away from home. 'Gifted' children need that extra bit of support that all children with special needs do.