College at age 11...

[arus2001]

I wish my parents and the teachers knew what to do with me. I feel dumb as a rock sometimes when people tell me i'm smart, because I know how much I don't know in the grand scope of things... is that what enlightenment is? lol

I think there is a saying something along the lines of, "A smart man knows everything. A wise man knows he doesn't."

[quannum]

damn homie! in high school, you were the man homie!

[Chips]

Entire thread summed up "I'll blame my personal failure on the school system. After all, I -am- (a) genius/gifted/smart ass."

[Seanr]

Define failure. Everyone is basically saying if different steps were taken with them in their adolescent years and younger, they might have turned out different. You can't deny the school system is Shit over here for the most part. Nobody said they were living in a fucking cardboard box in this thread.

There are only so many things you can do for yourself before a certain age

[zoobernut]

Entire thread summed up "I'll blame my personal failure on the school system. After all, I -am- (a) genius/gifted/smart ass."

Clearly someone for whom the school system failed. Your reading comprehension is abysmal.

[Churchill]

The school system has turned me into a cardboard box

[Lucienne]

I wish my parents and the teachers knew what to do with me. I feel dumb as a rock sometimes when people tell me i'm smart, because I know how much I don't know in the grand scope of things... is that what enlightenment is? lol

lol
I know what you mean. I feel bad when people compliment me on my language skills, especially my Swedish, because I haven't really done much to learn them, other than read dictionaries really and I could be so much better had I put effort into it. The way my brain works, I can memorize pages of words without any major effort and I can pick up grammar from texts without really knowing the language, as long as I can read it obviously. It just makes sense to me in some weird way.

I know that the Swedish school system sucks, I didn't argue otherwise, but we still have the opportunity for specialized classes, or skipping grades if the teacher believe it to be wise. The main reason why the Swedish school system sucks, though, is because the teachers have no idea how to treat kids who require extra help. They place kids with dyslexia in the same class as people with ADHD, ADD, Aspergers, and borderline, even though all of them require help with different things, and require different kind of help.

It's not really the fault of the teachers honestly. They don't have the resources or the education to do better than they do. Many teachers aren't particularly bright to start with, they pick the job because it's safe and easy and they'll get long vacation. Many of them have very mediocre knowledge of the subject they teach and many of them see raising the kids as a far more important task than actually sharing knowledge. I'm translator and not aneducated teacher, so I'd generally end up getting the classes that no one else wanted and having to fix them. I've had a 9th grade where 11 of the 18 kids had F when I got them, because all they did was grammar exercises. I've worked with kids with aspergers and autism that came to the school after the system had failed them and some of their stories are quite heartbreaking.

My husband gets really fucked off when I can't just look at maths problems and know the answer immediately - it's hilarious, he'd make such a shit teacher because he's all "oh why the hell don't you just know the answer to that is 0.244364361? It just bloody is!" He can't explain how the hell he knows that (and annoyingly he's usually bloody right) - he just does.

Your husband should read Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet.

[Kipling]

The school system has turned me into a cardboard box

[Mazmaz]

ITT geniuses, geniuses everywhere.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/p...png?1318992465

[Quicklet]

It's not even just the school system. Encouragement (or discouragement) by family, friends, or mentors plays a significant role in whether or not somebody gets to cultivate their talents to the extent that's possible. I'm sure there are countless stories of people who were really good at something when they were young, but never got to see that potential to its ultimate conclusion because of other factors in life or school.

Some things are just chance or static environment. You can't choose to be born to a family with the resources to support you if the existing systems available to you can't. But just because you don't win the ovarian lottery doesn't mean society should be set up to punish you for not conforming to its idea of how your mental and social development should be. After enough negative reinforcement, even the most passionate of people can lose their drive for something if all it results in is more misery.

[zoobernut]

ITT geniuses, geniuses everywhere.

Which person in this thread so far claimed to be a genius? Just because people have had similar experiences with schools and relate to the struggles of the genius in the article doesn't mean they are claiming to be geniuses. It just means people are having a discussion and sharing anecdotes about things that they don't like about the school system and how kids are taught.

[Chips]

Clearly someone for whom the school system failed. Your reading comprehension is abysmal.

u mad bro? its ok to be a failure, it wasn't your fault!

[zoobernut]

u mad bro? its ok to be a failure, it wasn't your fault!

How do you interpret mad from a post that said one simple statement? You read posts in a thread, came up with a summation of said posts and made a post of your own stating that summation, the summation you came up with was incorrect.

"u mad bro?" has become the fallback statement for someone who has nothing better to add and no real point to make.

[Chips]

How do you interpret mad from a post that said one simple statement? You read posts in a thread, came up with a summation of said posts and made a post of your own stating that summation, the summation you came up with was incorrect.

"u mad bro?" has become the fallback statement for someone who has nothing better to add and no real point to make.

you read me like a book!

[Tyche]

I don't blame the school system at all, the school system can't improve my work ethic. As I said in my original post, it isn't the intelligence of the kid that is most amazing to me, it's his willingness to read a textbook on his own time. I don't have that in me. I have a hard enough time studying for tests I have the following day. Sometimes it takes illegal drugs (sup aderal) to get me into study mode. Doesn't really stop me from keeping an above average GPA, but it keeps me from separating myself from many of my other classmates. I think there's probably more children capable of feats such as the child in the OP, but looking at a text book isn't near as fun as playing with Ninja Turtles when you're 6.

[Colenzo]

ITT: Being bored in school makes you a genius

[hey]

ITT geniuses, geniuses everywhere.

Pretty sure all/most of us are simply claiming to be (a fair bit) above average. Which really is all it takes. And it's not really surprising that such people are more likely to share their experiences in school than someone who's experience is "i'm of average intelligence, and although i stuggled sometimes, i worked hard, and did well. The school system wasn't perfect, but it most times it was hard enough to keep me interested, without being too difficult that i couldn't keep up". Especially since that kind of experience has nothing at all to do with this topic.

[Colenzo]

well i was bored in school too and im a genius so

[Lucienne]

well i was bored in school too and im a genius so

There is a difference between being bored, and being bored because you already know too much about the subject to get anything out of the lesson in the first place.

[hey]

There is a difference between being bored, and being bored because you already know too much about the subject to get anything out of the lesson in the first place.

Nope, if he was bored, he must be a genius. There is no other possible explanation.