ABSTRACT
Special education for gifted students is an enterprise that has struggledfor decades to prove that it is effective for participants and equitable within the broader context of an educational system. Therefore, it is vital to consider how gifted education might be improved (Callahan, 1993; Passow & Rudinski, 1993). Our purpose here is to expose some of prominent logical and empirical flaws in the practice of gifted education. These flaws weaken the arguments that could be made for providing optimal programs to the most able students. We are not arguing that gifted education should be abolished, but that it should be reconceptualized.
