Our DD12 8th grader has sometimes been written off as disrespectful by some teachers as she doesn't accept the pat answer. She will question question question... The good teachers love it because they know she is engaged. We had a current teacher write some snarky comments on DS's report card this year actually using the phrase, "little intellectual". On the other hand one of the teachers actually gave DD work tailored just to her!! So exciting!
Socially? It's tough. Right now DD is friends with a boy who also doesn't fit in. She just isn't in to typical 8th grade interests. She quit bringing books about science to school several years ago because girls were making fun of her. I would say that I doubt students at our new school would do that as it's very academically focused.
