So as in the article, I was one of those kids who tested at a genius-level IQ but got terrible grades. At least in my particular case, this article is so completely wrong it makes me angry. If parents really start treating truly gifted kids like this it would be absolutely TRAGIC.
As I mention, I was a smart kid. I could read (and I mean really read; we have this on Super 8mm film) the newspaper at age 3. The elementary school at which I started was an experimental type where kids got to work at their own pace and 'intelligence' was valued. I did wonderful and thrived.
I later transferred to a rural elementary school, where I had already done that year's curriculum and was moved up a grade. Kids are mean, and I learned to keep my head down and not make a big deal about my accomplishments (as the article so suggests). As in the article, the kids that did the best weren't the brightest ones, but the ones that did the most work. However, downplaying my intelligence in NO way magically dropped me into the category of the average-intelligence, high-effort kids. I instead came to think of myself as not special at all (again, as the article suggests).
As a result, I found myself in a sort of learning Twilight Zone where I wasn't rewarded for my ideas (and even at times berated for them). I was expected to be ridiculously inefficient, expending way more effort than was actually required to learn things.
As a kid though, I sat there thinking, "Why are these jackasses wanting me to do 20 homework questions when I can skip to the last 3 and still understand the concept better than anyone else?". Needless to say, I became completely disillusioned with my education and developed a lack of respect for my teachers.
By high school, I cared enough to avoid complete shame and at least get Cs but found it very difficult to keep interested in the sort of classes that drip information to one in small doses. I had a meeting with teachers where I was practically yelled at for my poor performance and came out of there with even less self-confidence, if that was even possible. I came to find out that a lot of these teachers flat out resented the fact that I scored well on their tests but wouldn't do their homework assignments.
By the time I graduated high school, I was a wreck. A brilliant, genius of a wreck. However, my chosen Big 12 school could literally care less what my GPA was given my far-above-average score on the ACT that I earned as soon as I was eligible to take it my junior year of high school (I never took it again). So, I was off to college.
My first semester in college, I came away with a 0.877 GPA. That's right, IQ of 160 and a GPA so low that one almost has to work for it. I obviously wasn't going to class, but it wasn't because I was a partier. I didn't even drink until I was 21, even. Rather, I stayed holed up in my dorm room distracting myself because I had zero confidence in my ability to perform. Years of bad grades will do this to a person.
I got kicked out of college three times for bad grades. As I matured, I gained a little confidence back and finally completed my Engineering degree. It took me 7 years. If you look at my grade card, I got As in classes like Physics I and II, Thermodynamics, et cetera; on the flip side I flunked freshman English.
I have now been out of school for 6 years. As I sit, I am the successful co-owner (along with my younger brother) of a 4-year-old real estate development and construction firm. The project I'm working on now is a 125,000 square foot, 8-story building downtown. I have an outstanding future ahead of me and the potential to earn all the money I could ever need. I'm also married and a father of two, and lead a very fulfilling family life.
I will be the first to admit that my story is rare. But then again, so are kids like I was. I quite honestly feel that I have beaten the odds given the educational environment in which I was placed.
Modern education generally results in such an incredible waste of talent these days, mainly because it rewards the average effort-maker and punishes the brilliant types. This misguided understanding extends further into the workplace and society as a whole. Our educational system grooms people to be cubicle dwellers and rise through the ranks of the corporate culture, ensuring that the cogs of corporate America continue to grind their way along.
In the meantime, history is rife with examples of those who dropped out, were kicked out, or just plain quit the usual plan and went on to great things. Bill Gates, Harvard drop-out. Warren Buffet was flat turned down from Harvard Business School. And those are just the two wealthiest men in America (where wealth is at least one indisputable measurement of success). Larry Ellison, 14th richest person in the world, dropped out of college as well. The list goes on, and these are NOT COINCIDENCES.
Even more importantly, everyone in the world has benefited from the brilliance of people like this. Those three mentioned above may be poor examples in this sense due to negative perceptions of their wealth, but think of Albert Einstein. Another drop-out. Another drop-out, whose amazing work has touched the lives of nearly every person on this Earth.
(At this point I should note that while I started this writing about myself, I in no way place myself in the same category as those I have begun to mention. I have reclaimed some self-confidence, but I'm not delusional.)
Now, imagine if we had an educational system that took brilliant, maverick, thinking-types out of 'the system' and instead gave them the tools and the environment that they needed to grow. What amazing things that could be done by this critical group if we lifted them up and let them work the way they need to. How much could we all prosper as a result?
To the authors of this study I say, "Effort, my ass". Truly moving things are more often done through sheer brilliance and require very little effort of the rote kind being shoved upon pupils in today's society.
A mindless laborer puts forth a mighty effort but he will not Change The World.
As I mention, I was a smart kid. I could read (and I mean really read; we have this on Super 8mm film) the newspaper at age 3. The elementary school at which I started was an experimental type where kids got to work at their own pace and 'intelligence' was valued. I did wonderful and thrived.
I later transferred to a rural elementary school, where I had already done that year's curriculum and was moved up a grade. Kids are mean, and I learned to keep my head down and not make a big deal about my accomplishments (as the article so suggests). As in the article, the kids that did the best weren't the brightest ones, but the ones that did the most work. However, downplaying my intelligence in NO way magically dropped me into the category of the average-intelligence, high-effort kids. I instead came to think of myself as not special at all (again, as the article suggests).
As a result, I found myself in a sort of learning Twilight Zone where I wasn't rewarded for my ideas (and even at times berated for them). I was expected to be ridiculously inefficient, expending way more effort than was actually required to learn things.
As a kid though, I sat there thinking, "Why are these jackasses wanting me to do 20 homework questions when I can skip to the last 3 and still understand the concept better than anyone else?". Needless to say, I became completely disillusioned with my education and developed a lack of respect for my teachers.
By high school, I cared enough to avoid complete shame and at least get Cs but found it very difficult to keep interested in the sort of classes that drip information to one in small doses. I had a meeting with teachers where I was practically yelled at for my poor performance and came out of there with even less self-confidence, if that was even possible. I came to find out that a lot of these teachers flat out resented the fact that I scored well on their tests but wouldn't do their homework assignments.
By the time I graduated high school, I was a wreck. A brilliant, genius of a wreck. However, my chosen Big 12 school could literally care less what my GPA was given my far-above-average score on the ACT that I earned as soon as I was eligible to take it my junior year of high school (I never took it again). So, I was off to college.
My first semester in college, I came away with a 0.877 GPA. That's right, IQ of 160 and a GPA so low that one almost has to work for it. I obviously wasn't going to class, but it wasn't because I was a partier. I didn't even drink until I was 21, even. Rather, I stayed holed up in my dorm room distracting myself because I had zero confidence in my ability to perform. Years of bad grades will do this to a person.
I got kicked out of college three times for bad grades. As I matured, I gained a little confidence back and finally completed my Engineering degree. It took me 7 years. If you look at my grade card, I got As in classes like Physics I and II, Thermodynamics, et cetera; on the flip side I flunked freshman English.
I have now been out of school for 6 years. As I sit, I am the successful co-owner (along with my younger brother) of a 4-year-old real estate development and construction firm. The project I'm working on now is a 125,000 square foot, 8-story building downtown. I have an outstanding future ahead of me and the potential to earn all the money I could ever need. I'm also married and a father of two, and lead a very fulfilling family life.
I will be the first to admit that my story is rare. But then again, so are kids like I was. I quite honestly feel that I have beaten the odds given the educational environment in which I was placed.
Modern education generally results in such an incredible waste of talent these days, mainly because it rewards the average effort-maker and punishes the brilliant types. This misguided understanding extends further into the workplace and society as a whole. Our educational system grooms people to be cubicle dwellers and rise through the ranks of the corporate culture, ensuring that the cogs of corporate America continue to grind their way along.
In the meantime, history is rife with examples of those who dropped out, were kicked out, or just plain quit the usual plan and went on to great things. Bill Gates, Harvard drop-out. Warren Buffet was flat turned down from Harvard Business School. And those are just the two wealthiest men in America (where wealth is at least one indisputable measurement of success). Larry Ellison, 14th richest person in the world, dropped out of college as well. The list goes on, and these are NOT COINCIDENCES.
Even more importantly, everyone in the world has benefited from the brilliance of people like this. Those three mentioned above may be poor examples in this sense due to negative perceptions of their wealth, but think of Albert Einstein. Another drop-out. Another drop-out, whose amazing work has touched the lives of nearly every person on this Earth.
(At this point I should note that while I started this writing about myself, I in no way place myself in the same category as those I have begun to mention. I have reclaimed some self-confidence, but I'm not delusional.)
Now, imagine if we had an educational system that took brilliant, maverick, thinking-types out of 'the system' and instead gave them the tools and the environment that they needed to grow. What amazing things that could be done by this critical group if we lifted them up and let them work the way they need to. How much could we all prosper as a result?
To the authors of this study I say, "Effort, my ass". Truly moving things are more often done through sheer brilliance and require very little effort of the rote kind being shoved upon pupils in today's society.
A mindless laborer puts forth a mighty effort but he will not Change The World.