Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Yes, at a regular school.

No, I didn't qualify.

No, my school didn't have one.

I went to a school for gifted kids.

Other (explain below).

[theinevitable]

also, wombat-- I never could memorize the multiplication tables. They would never stick. Now I know most of the important ones, I guess, just from having to use them... but it was rough times in elementary school.

[V-Adore]

Just coincidentally, one of the reasons I'm a grad-school dropout is that I was dating a guy who tacitly made it clear that women educated above his level were not sexy to him, and that he was disappointed I had not moved to his city after college. I mean, it was just one factor in the Big Ol' Honkin' Depression Train, but it was there. Anyway: I'm trying to take an "it ain't over 'til I die" approach, but I am basically anxiety-prone and fear very much living in a van down by the river.

Back on subject!

About the only GT-like thing I didn't have was skipping a grade. My first school district made it more or less impossible to do so and had a very stringent cutoff date for school entrance; as such, I was actually one of the oldest in my grade throughout elementary school. I planned on making it up by doing high school in three years... but then, as it turned out, I got into clubs and electives, and I had no desire to leave early. (After all, if I had, I would have lost a year of speech eligibility, and that would have been like death to 17-Year-Old Me.) Which brings me to my real point: I think that not being skipped was in some ways the best thing for me, because it allowed me to do some social and emotional catch-up by the time I got to high school. Most of the people I knew in HS who had skipped a grade were pretty emotionally stunted, and I think the extra time might have helped them out.

Then again, as a counterexample, I knew a dude in college who came in at 16 (!) and was cool, emotionally mature (well, as emotionally mature as any college freshman), and awesome, so it's hard to say.

[Nabubrush]

Just coincidentally, one of the reasons I'm a grad-school dropout is that I was dating a guy who tacitly made it clear that women educated above his level were not sexy to him, and that he was disappointed I had not moved to his city after college. I mean, it was just one factor in the Big Ol' Honkin' Depression Train, but it was there. Anyway: I'm trying to take an "it ain't over 'til I die" approach, but I am basically anxiety-prone and fear very much living in a van down by the river.

What a fuckin' cock. Jesus. Fuck that fuckin' guy.

[wombat]

We interrupt this thread for a repetition of wombat's curmudgeonly speech for people under thirty who are afraid their lives are a total failure: Unless you want to be an Olympic ice skater, there is still time for you to do anything in your life.  And in fact, to do it, then give it up and do something else entirely. I speak from specific experience that I will not bore you by repeating.

Anyway, think about it. First, think just how annoying you would be if you were already rich and famous and at the pinnacle of your chosen field.  And then, think about how, since you'd already met that goal, you'd be in the same position you are now - trying to figure out what the hell to do next.

You realize of course that I harp on this because it's not really about you guys at all. It's about the fact that if it were too late for you, then I would be really screwed.

Back slightly on topic... The more I watch my friends' children go through school, the more flawed the whole idea of school seems. I was the sort of person who fit into the whole school thing so well that I actually grew up to be a teacher - basically I didn't get out of a school environment till I was over 40. So I didn't really see it.  But, school is so horrible for people who are good at other things instead, even though many of those other things are equally or more important for success in real life.  And from the thread here we see that school is often also horrible for exactly the sort of people who are GOOD at school. It couldn't be any more depressing if it had been designed to be.

[smick]

I like to think that I can turn up the power on the cell towers near the homes of the people that tormented me.

Sweet, sweet, non-ionizing sterilization.   

Then I realize that would hit a lot of people that had nothing to do with it, but really it is too late for that. 

Sorry.

[Nabubrush]

As the TOUAMBie who probably lives closest to you, I am happy that I am not planning on having kids. However, the clumps of hair falling out thing? Not cool, smick.

[AugustWest]

... a material engineer?

As opposed to a non-corporeal engineer?

Also, smart chicks rule.

[littlefallsmets]

I am all about bein' with a lady with more practical education than me.

...someone's gotta buy food while I try to be A Writer.

...I'm...

I'm just sayin' here.

[smick]

As opposed to a non-corporeal engineer?

Like me: I engineer vibrations.

People who read quickly through here will see "I engineer vibrators".  That would take a lot more schooling than what I have.

[Lister]

So for starters I went to a private school (Presbyterian) which already was more advanced than most schools.  Basically the "really good schools" in the area were my school, one of the Catholic schools, and the public school in the richest suburb of the city.

I was in the advanced/honors track there starting in third grade, which in grades 3-6 just meant that for math and reading/English we would go to different classrooms and be taught by a teacher the next grade up.  From Junior High up (where you changed rooms for every class) we just went to advanced classes.

I got a lot of the "doesn't apply himself" stuff, because I can't force myself to memorize things with no context, and that's what bible teachers and bad history teachers do.  I had exactly one history teacher who knew what he was doing in my 12 years there.  Also I probably have hella ADD, but I wasn't ever diagnosed.  I ended up figuring out how I have to learn things on my own, which in the end was a far better prospect than being tied to a stimulant for the rest of my life*.  And, as it turns out, I haven't needed to be able to recite Corinthians in my adult life, ever.

Because our school was small and my class was the smallest of all of them, there wasn't really a "smart kids" group to get excluded with.  All of the normal social groups crossed over enough to make cliques difficult to form.  There was jealousy, of course (Football players get out of school early and ride charter buses!  Band members stay the full time and ride the leftover yellow bus!), but none of the real damaging/fight picking/oppression stuff.

All in all it seems like I had the least traumatic advanced classes.  About the only thing it did was let me skip one English composition class in college (a 5 on the AP test and just one comp class?) and not have to do calculus again.  That seems to have been where I hit the limit of what I could easily understand, and I honestly have no idea how I passed that class.

*Note: This was my experience.  Not all cases of ADD/ADHD are alike, and drug therapy is useful for some people.  Just not for me.

[theinevitable]

I always wonder what would have gone on at my school if it had been bigger. As it was, I knew every single kid in my grade, and they were all nice enough I guess. But, you know, beneath the surface... some of those kids totally would have beaten people up.
The only person at my school who I ever saw being harassed is a pretty good friend of mine now... but at the time, he was one of those kids that was just begging for people to hate him.
I don't know, I pretty rapidly figured out that being a know-it-all was not appreciated, and being a dick about it even less so. This guy... he just kept on doing it. Oh, you stole my boxers from my PE locker and put them in the shower last week, but now you want me to meet you somewhere for a party? that sounds awesome! i'm glad you guys are my friends now! (oh my gosh, I am so surprised and upset, it was a trick) and then he would come in and act like a complete douche in class again...
I remember being really bothered by it at the time, but then he was such an obnoxious dick in classes that I stopped caring. Now he is my friend and I am kind of sad that I just ignored that shit.

[littlefallsmets]

There were no AP classes in my small semi-rural high school. None.

I knew kids who came into Syracuse with three semesters of pre-reqs knocked outta the park allowing them to... graduate early or... go abroad for a semester with no concerns or... basically take the minimum credit hours for their entire undergrad experience and have a lot more extracurricular fun as... as I probably would'a done with it.

I had an English class I took through the community college as a senior. Woo-uh-hoo?

[jaydub]

There were no AP classes in my small semi-rural high school. None.

So why not join me in the "My school didn't have one" category?  Or - your high school didn't have AP, but your elementary school did have GATE?

[littlefallsmets]

Right. My elementary had programs, my high school did not.

And fuck them in the ear for fixing that right after my younger brother graduated.

[AugustWest]

Ok, I guess I'm ready to do this.

I started reading at 3, which lead to my parents having me tested.  This testing lead to me starting school at 5 (November birthday) which was probably a mistake.

I started first grade in the fall of 1971 in a small southern rural school system that had only just been integrated.  While there was no formal "gifted" program, we were sectioned into ability based groups at least as early as third grade.  By 5th grade there was an official "Smart Class" in my school, made of mainly of the same people I'd been grouped with for the past four years (and our counterparts from the other two feeder elementaries.)

I moved to a different city at the beginning of 6th grade, then again at the beginning of 7th.  There weren't any formalized gifted programs available in Jr. High, but there was some "advanced" classes and some independent study.  Moved back to where I started from at the beginning of 10th grade.  Went to a very small private college prep school (12 in my senior class) which allowed for much individual attention on top of the already academically accelerated curriculum.  I was Valedictorian (see class size above) and a National Merit Scholar.

At this point in my life I try to give those things the proper perspective.  There are some things that I am very good at, other things not so much, yet other things I absolutely suck at.  I'm at a pretty lousy place in my life right now, but I've also done some pretty great things over the years.  This too shall pass.