It is pretty ridiculous how pervasive test prep is for pre-school age kids to get them into the G&T program.
There are many flaws in gifted programs and they aren’t perfect. But they do have advantages like more child autonomy, more allowances for child-directed study, and more encouragement of curiosity.
Not all children have academic curiosity and so gifted isn’t a good fit for everyone.
But for parents who want their kids to achieve academically, I can’t imagine turning down gifted for “regular.”
And not saying this is you, but when I lived in Manhattan I would hear arguments about improving all classes instead of just gifted and the parents were sending their kids to private school.
Public school is rough, but taking away paths out for kids who want to be in school, but whose parents can’t afford private school seems like punishing those gifted students.
BTW - not all public school in NYC is tough. You have to remember the scale of NYC. Within it are insanely great schools, a lot of mediocre schools, and too many horror shows - much like the public school system in any US state.