This speech addresses the educational needs of gifted children in the context of the existing educational system's philosophy and various reform efforts. It first examines the doctrine of progress, suggesting that important educational change is glacial and much of what purports to be educational change is ephemeral. It claims that the present prime directive of our educational system is to socialize job holders. Such reform movements as "authentic assessment" are seen to be more efforts to hold schools accountable to government than true examples of educational change. An alternative view is offered, which states that: (1) progress along the path of improvement is uncertain; (2) schooling tries to make people useful, but ends by dumbing them down; (3) good schooling entails enlightenment; and (4) education is a process of liberation that does not require schooling. It is concluded that teachers of gifted students need to see their prime mission as care of students' intellect, rather than development of their hypothetical usefulness. The existing "one best system" for all students is seen as in decline and suffering from an epidemic of "thoughtlessness" which can only be countered by an emphasis on thoughtfulness in the education of the gifted. (Contains seven references.) (DB)