Were you a "bright child who didn't apply him/herself"?

iRoyalty
reply to post by WhiteAlice

 

School systems work on averages, the average test score, the average attendance etc.. This means they focus on the bottom end.

I remember working real hard, getting everything right and only getting a couple of merits for the entire year. Then a kid who was a trouble-maker and I know him now, he works for a drug dealer, he would get merits simply for coming into class :/ it was frustrating and made me wonder why I even bothered.

YES!

I had that same issue.

Would try and try and try and get everything 100% right.

Never got a single bit of recognition as they were all bust giving gold stars and attention the little trouble makeing dip **** the same little ****s that went on to the British prison system.

benrl
Heres a quick story,

1'st grade, New school, teacher hands me a math book and says "this is what we will be doing" she walks away.

Young Benrl, looks at this book, and goes, she said we would be doing it, so he does it, all of it.

Teacher returns, and proceeds to browbeat benrl For and I qoute " what the hell am I supposed to teach you now"

By 2nd Grade, Young benrl now receives work, and does not do it, stares blankly, or writes random diatribes into the answer portions of the test, this has now caused Benrl to repeat the 1st grade, and about to repeat the 2nd.

By now, older "gifted brother" is excelling, younger "gifted" brother also.

Young Benrl gets tested by the school for special ed...

Surprise, after counselling months of humiliation, Young Benrl is diagnosed...


Its Boredom, 135 IQ, Math skills at the College lever, Reading comprehension at High school level.

End result, I f-ed off through school, barely graduated, college late,

And to this day, I have an violent distrust of Bureaucracy and Authority.

edit on 20-2-2014 by benrl because: (no reason given)

:-) Sounds so familiar! I remember the SRA program, you do at your own pace. Seven yrs old, finished all mine the whole box, while everyone else had a few done...teacher was not happy. Perfect scores so what could she do, so I read a book half the day.

I'm not really sure what applying oneself even means as a schoolkid. Not getting into the gifted program? I was talked up as smart during my entire childhood, even though I was in mainstream classes getting As and Bs like anyone else. I had a college reading level in 6th grade, which I grew into and became just someone with a stack of books in her closet. Bad literary attention span, can't even speed read...

reply to post by EllaMarina


Pretty sure it meant having a serious disrespect for homework and redundancy amidst still doing well on tests. I was labeled a "non-self applier" and tagged so any of us got hit with that label regardless of whether in the mainstream or not.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


For me it was a bit different both of my Grandmothers were in situations where they were the primary bread winners in the respective households at times. One was widowed with 5 children and the other one had to contend with my Grandfathers PTSD and raise her 4 children. So both of my parents were well aware that women could be strong and do things outside of the "norm". So when I took the Kirby apart to find out how it worked it wasn't really a big deal, other than it was the Kirby I took apart. It was like sure feel free to tear stuff apart but please sweetheart the vacuum that costs as much as a car don't touch lol.

Now I am with my husband who just loves watching me change the oil in the cars. What he sees in my oil stained work on the car clothes I will never understand lol. Plus it was just great to amaze my youngest niece one morning when I had to climb up on her roof to install a chimney liner. My poor sister in law heard about that for months.

EllaMarina
I'm not really sure what applying oneself even means as a schoolkid. Not getting into the gifted program? I was talked up as smart during my entire childhood, even though I was in mainstream classes getting As and Bs like anyone else. I had a college reading level in 6th grade, which I grew into and became just someone with a stack of books in her closet. Bad literary attention span, can't even speed read...

Not applying oneself would be the students getting C' and D's and depending on the class the occasional B. Not because they were incapable but because they saw no point in doing their classwork and homework. For me I could outperform most of my class in any subject other than math, I just simply had no interest in the material as it was presented.

Im going through this with my 6 year old daughter now! Very bright but wont apply herself and her teacher last year recommended i take her to see a paediatrician because apparently she cant concentrate and gets distracted very easily and ofcourse the new year has started and same issues so ill be taking her too see one, she does her homework with me just fine though i know she is very smart!!! i think its the school environment maybe? all i know is i wont be putting her on medication which i have heard is all the paed's seem to do with a child that doesn't concentrate at school. I really think it comes down to the school environment itself that determines how well a smart kid will do, fair enough if the child has underlying issues that prevent them from exploring their full potential but its true there is so many smart kids that don't. I know teachers do their best with ever increasing class sizes.

I was a smart kid too but got in a car accident at age 9 which changed my life and robbed me of my love for school and learning i left school at 14, not all that much smarter than when i was 9, pretty sad really.

I hope all that makes sense sorry i was up all night with a sick child & a crying baby!