Certified even. Ha Ha.
Nobody cares. It’s the truth.
I found out when they tested me in third grade, literally gave me an IQ test twice. Apparently, because they were confused as to why I tested so high but was failing in school. My parents didn’t care, other kids didn’t care, aunts, uncles, cousins… it did not impress a single one of them. In some cases they even thought I was making it up*. They definitely thought I was obnoxious about it, and looking back, I know I was.
My report cards were mostly C's and D's, with a sprinkling of F's.
The exception teachers who tested me, now, they were impressed. Granted, it was a kind of a pitying, hey kid maybe you have a chance, impressed. I doubt anyone considered me a savant except the librarian. Because academically speaking, it was my first real and maybe only accomplishment. Unless you count being autodidact learning for fun, or reading every book in the school library, and it turns out, they did not.
They made me take the test twice that first time and later in school at least twice, junior high and high school. Not sure if it was to make sure I wasn’t cheating or it was a fluke and I just guessed right I guess. But again. I scored at the top two percentile certificate.
Before the tests, all my teachers hated me, in grade school, – and beyond, I was always daydreaming or reading in their class, instead of paying attention to what they were saying. Unless I was correcting them when they misquoted the text book. I never turned in homework, talked in class when I wasn’t reading. Argued with them even if I was in trouble. Had a tardiness problem from kindergarten on. Yeah, not exactly teachers, or principals, pet.
Thinking back, they hated me after the tests too.
Turns out I was a little shit without respect for authority. I did, and still do, set off the authoritarian types, because well, I don’t obey rules I see no value to. But we’ll get more into that in a bit. But Still… “After the tests”, some of the teachers tried mentoring me…
I got put in the smart kid classes.. In junior high they put me in what was known in the Lost Angeles School district back then, as “Mentally Gifted Minors” or MGM as it was called.
The math teacher decided to “mentor me” in the disguise of a disciplinary action. I was to report to him note book in hand, and show him my class notes, homework assignments, projects. All organized and neat at the beginning of school and after every class.
Poor guy, I was horrible at it(keeping things neat organizing, taking notes) and hated it. Despite his efforts, I still flunked, or maybe because of them. I resented the draconian methods and constraint… Though the flunk became an incomplete because we moved before the semester ended. And that a is another story in a long line of opportunity lost.
Hubris
In Freshman year after aptitude test – I decided I wanted to help people and become a doctor, the plan – university and medical school. Fast track courses for college, while still in High School, so I could get my nursing degree the year after I graduated, to pay for it. The beauty of it being I could use the course credits.
Enrolled in classes geared for that path,
- German because they didn’t offer Latin,
- Algebra,
- government/civics
- Biology
- English
I finished homework in class and turned it in the same day, I studied, I turned in papers… I aced more than one class with A’s … But then…
Biology 101. Dean, The Water Polo captain sat directly across from me in class. I was a teenage girl, he was like candy in a candy store, toned, tanned, handsome, he took up a lot of head room. Making concentrating on the lecture part of the class that was homework related and not in the text book difficult. Add that to the seven stages of mitosis and microscopes. F. and D. Never even cracked a C in that class, even though I aced the tests, except for the finals – which were lab based.
Our teacher was very lab oriented based on his grading, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not see it through the microscope, I could not see the pattern. I was able to outline the process and give you the name of the stages but I was unable to identify them in lab*.
I did ace the other two Science classes I had to take to make up for it, but it didn’t alleviate that big old fat F.
Kind of devastating to my plan to become a doctor. Biology and GPA are the cornerstones of that educational path.
In the mean time I got 3 years of German, kindled an interest in civics, did fairly well in math, and took classes on medical terminology, medical assistant classes, front and back office. and a “Unit Secretary” course. And earned enough extra credit to only need to attend 4 classes a semester my Senior year.
*Years later in one of the undergrad psychology majors that i worked with (as a Unit Secretary) in a psychiatric facility gave me a test as a part of a project he was working on, and told me I have a mild case of face blindness which is related to failure in pattern recognition
I did try like hell to reach “My potential”
But it was quite a
Truth be told, after a while, you tend to start to believe maybe in the scheme of things, being a genius over all in life, is not all that important, or a magic portal to success. And in some cases it can be a real drag. And it sure doesn’t mean that you don’t make mistakes, or get things wrong. Or become a rocket scientist. I read somewhere that a majority of geniuses don’t become Doctors and Lawyers and such as the song goes.
And when you grow up, you find out early that, without a degree to back the genius, employers don’t care either. At least until they see the benefits, after they hire you.
These days, I don’t tend to tell people that I’m a genius, except as a warning because I can tell they are underestimating my grasp on the situation. Mostly, I prefer to let people figure it out themselves. I like in many way how this doesn’t get in the way of starting relationships with people, or expectations. Or disappointment.
