Well, but I think she has a point.
If the goal is to learn to
communicate effectively with peers, then 'dumbing down' is definitely part and parcel of that.
I wouldn't dream of calling it "demeaning" or being "untrue to myself" if I used vastly simplified language and concepts to explain, say, the relationship between pressure and temperature in gases-- to a group of eight year olds.
KWIM? They are at a different place than I am with that material, on average, and therefore it's simply good communication skills for me to adjust to meet them rather than the other way around (which is obviously impossible).
I'll also echo Val's painful experiences. I can recall feeling bereft when my cousins (both one bright, the other MG) refused to play with me anymore because I was using "too many fancy words" and it was "mean/snooty" of me.
It was a hard lesson to learn.
I mention that because I was kind of a verbal steamroller as a kid, too. I was sort of oblivious to how it effected others until I was in my teens.
