Gifted?

So. It seems that about 85% of children in the US are "gifted," according to their parents at least. I personally know many children who have that label. All of them are in less than stellar school systems. Once I had a conversation with a "gifted" kid that went like this:

Me: Doing anything this vacation?
Gifted Kid: I going to gifted camp.
Me: Gifted camp? What do you do there?
GK: Its only for the gifted kids.
Me: But what do you do? Is there a theme? Ancient history? Space? Pottery? Kickball?
GK: No, we only do gifted things. You wouldn't understand if you're not gifted.

The summer camp my eldest wanted doesn't have a registration form. It has an application form and an acceptance letter comes later in the mail. It wasn't until I was completing the dang application form that I realized it was a "gifted" program. I had to attest to my kid's IQ, experience and ability to withstand the rigors of the academic camp. What???? He is perfectly average overall in my opinion. Reading skills a little weak, his math skills are stronger, but perfectly average. Normal. Fine. And really I think that might be okay.

Sitting outside his vacation program this week would make you think he is a genius. Again, an "academic" camp but really just fun. Applying Newton's laws to superheros. How much better could it get for the six 6-9 year old geeky boys? But the parents seem to think they were in there working toward world peace.

Clearly I don't understand since I'm not gifted. And I think that might be fine.