Hello there, I am new to this forum.

I will get straight to the point. I am an ex gifted child.

I was in the top 97% percentile in verbal/linguistics and history comprehension in comparison to 12 year-olds nationwide who took the STAR standardized tests. At 10 years old I wanted to be a paleontologist and enthusiastically dragged my grand parents to UC Berkely to hear Jack Horner's theorems on endothermic and exothermic quadrupedal dinosaurs, though personally I found Robert Bakkers' theories more to my liking.
At 13 I scored higher on the SAT than most college bound seniors.
I also attended classes for gifted youth at UC Irvine, and junior classes in law at DC.


However I have struggled with depression, a bipolar mother, a father who killed himself in 2008, and poverty.

I am crippled by the thought of being the center of attention to the point where my intellectual capabilities are mitigated by my own mind in an attempt to camouflage my capabilities and not draw attention to myself in the presence of minds of lesser levels of intellectualism.

It feels as if I can only fully reach my potential around intellectuals, not because of a superiority complex per se, but because of a crippling fear stemming from physical abuse at the hands of less intelligent people. I am clearly an eccentric, however I feel I have much to offer the world and am unable to do so.


I also went through a Holden Caulfield-esque rebellious period stemming from my indoctrination into the public school system and the idiocy I faced at the hands of my teachers, and peers, (not to mention the bush administration!) which led to complete disillusionment and academic failure on my part. I graduated high school with a GPA of 1.9

I am currently 23 years old, with no car, no life, no friends, and no intellectual stimulation, essentially I am withdrawn and have no idea how to survive in a world where at my place at the totem pole intellectualism is seen as so abhorrent.
Concurrently my interests in life, talents and interest in academic subjects are so broad and vast I don't know where to start. I want to educate myself, and I know that I need to go back to school, Yet I am also broke and am afraid that the only schools that will except me will not be challenging; thus was the case with the proprietary Art school I previously received my associates from. I have discovered that my mind simply cannot function well when it isn't challenged, but I have no idea how to seek the stimulation I crave.

I am asking for any advice you can provide on how to further my education in my circumstance.

from,
gifted disenfranchised adult


Last edited by grjeremy; 11/18/10 05:09 PM.