Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews has a good read today about a gifted high school kid who wants to graduate high school, and the high school that's making it so hard for him to do so. Here's the lead:

"Anyone who wants to appreciate how strong a grip high school has on the American imagination -- and how clueless some school districts are about this -- should consider the story of Drew Gamblin, a 16-year-old student at Howard High School in Ellicott City.

Drew, a child so gifted he taught himself to write at age 3, craves a high school education and all that comes with it -- debate team, music, drama and senior prom.

After a series of inexplicable decisions by Howard County school officials, such as requiring him to stay in a Howard High algebra class he had already mastered, his parents decided to home-school him and put him in college classes. But Drew insisted on his high school dream."

Read the column and then weigh in. Are schools doing enough for gifted kids? Or do they just get in the way?