Here's something interesting. At our old junior high, now the "College Station Middle School," a couple of 14-year-olds were arrested for possession of a semi-automatic on the school campus. The police traced the gun to an 18-year-old who allegedly sold them the gun.[full story] The interesting part is, in junior high, I'm pretty sure I had at least one class with this kid.
I really think they should have more "advanced" or "honors" courses sooner. I think that I was in his 8th grade science class. That class had some pretty bad people in it. I remember that one kid in the class had Down's Syndrome. What made it really sad is that some of the other kids picked on him a lot, and he threw tantrums. The teacher couldn't handle any of it. The only activity I can remember doing in there was a crossword puzzle; the reason I remember it was that while we were working on it, another kid attempted to bribe me in an attempt to copy off of my paper. They really need to separate kids like that from kids like us at a younger level.