Most of their remarks were kindly made—with tolerance rather than bitterness—and frequently were softened by the fact that the students were speaking about some, not all, instructors.
When highly gifted students in any domain talk about what was important to the development of their abilities, they are far more likely to mention their families than their schools or teachers.
Once language starts to develop from about age 2, they do have a system for symbolic representation and can talk about things which aren't in their immediate environment including the past.
I had a friend once who would go on and on and on about rent control and how it unbalanced the rental market for the rest of New York, arguments I found mostly convincing.
And don't be afraid to talk about re-organising a financial or business set-up in which there's room for some trimming of costs or an increase in profits.