Originally Posted by ultramarina
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How do you know they were smarter than you? Did you have IQ scores for these kids, or were you making an assumption based on achievement?

No, I didn't have IQ scores, but I am not very competent in quantitative fields and they were. So, even though I am very high ability in some areas, it's not really enough. Anyway, I knew these kids. I'd grown up with them. I was probably the better writer, but they could easily master AP calc, etc, which I could not.

When I was in high school, I used to think that the kids who got As in certain classes that I got Bs in were smarter than me. Many years later, I discovered that they had something I didn't have at that time: study habits. I had no concept of sitting down with a math book every day for an hour or so and really thinking about stuff. I didn't need to, because I was getting Bs, which was fine in my teenage mind. At the end of the year, I'd spend some time cramming the weekend before the final, and would always get an A (if not the highest grade in the class) on it. I never really thought about why I could do that.

My point is that it's easy to assume that other people are "smart" based on achievement.

And honestly, if I'd been in a school full of other HG+ kids, I would have been clued into my capabilities at a much earlier age. Something that's been mostly left out of this thread (HK mentioned it, I think) is that when HG+ kids aren't stretched regularly, they have no idea of what they may be capable of.

It's super-frustrating for me that our schools have near-universal policies of allowing other kids to stretch while denying this opportunity to HG+ kids.