Reading through these posts makes me so envious. I wish I had teachers and parents like you 50 years ago. Thank you for being so supportive. I found this forum searching �intelligent discussions on the internet�. You are helping make the world a better place.
I went to a small school with no programs for special needs students. I was very bored by second grade, so they put me in the corner with a 16 YO who couldn�t read or write so I could teach her. Third grade I wrote poetry. Fourth grade I spent in the corner with a developmentally disabled savant (16 yo, amazing engineering skills, but no emotional control) who was institutionalized a couple years later. I won the contest to read the most books. They mainstreamed me through middle school where I was again bored to frustration, getting good grades for minimal effort. HS was mostly independent study, and they mercifully allowed me to go to junior college the last year.
Recently I got a copy of my school records. My mother has no memory of me being a National Merit Finalist and I was wondering if I had a false memory about it. I never knew my IQ and was curious. Now I�m wondering if these test numbers were the reason my teachers threw up their hands and stopped teaching me. These numbers are from the California Mental Maturity test. In 1st grade I tested IQ 119. 2nd grade same test was 141. 5th grade back to 118. I�m trying to figure out this huge variation. Two possible explanations come to mind.
1- The tests are inherently inaccurate due to the high number of variables.
2) The more intriguing question: Is it feasible that somehow I intuitively learned that if I was too successful, they stopped educating me? The net effect of testing closer to average allowed me to be included instead of being ostracized. It�s too lonely to be smart.
I remember being very frustrated during the time they left me alone. I felt ostracized during the period of my life when I was supposed to be developing social skills. The punishment for being smart was to force responsibility on me for which I lacked desire or training to do correctly. They set me up to fail, but they kept us out the way, so they were successful. People ask me why I don�t have a PhD. It�s because I never fit into the conventional educational system and my contempt for that system lasts to this day.
I am very pleased to learn that now there are teachers and parents so committed to maximizing every student�s potential. Well done. Thank you.
Your thoughts are welcome.
