I’ve come to the realization that the “gifted program” was just an excuse to get all the ADHD and autistic kids out of the teacher’s hair for a couple of hours. Instead of learning stuff, they made me do pointless shit like make a fake Rosetta stone and bury it, or build a bridge out of popsicle sticks. Complete waste of time.
I thought I was smart/knowledgeable until I started working with people who really are smart/knowledgeable.
I tried to keep up and be one of them, but I do better when I just try to follow along with them and consider alternatives and implications of what they propose.
I wouldn’t say I’m the token idiot, but I have perspectives they don’t, and those are useful. Then again, that’s exactly what the token idiot would say.
The fact that you can follow along & offer a different perspective counts for more than you think, because it shows that you understand.
The worst is the people who think they’re the smartest person in the room, don’t understand what anyone is trying to explain to them, and insist on doing everything their way.
“It all started back in elementary school when they told me I was ‘gifted’…”
I’ve come to the realization that the “gifted program” was just an excuse to get all the ADHD and autistic kids out of the teacher’s hair for a couple of hours. Instead of learning stuff, they made me do pointless shit like make a fake Rosetta stone and bury it, or build a bridge out of popsicle sticks. Complete waste of time.
That’s literally what we did, lol, and advanced math. Plus, I think we got to go on several field trips each year. Those were nice.
But yeah, I came to the same conclusion far too late in life.
I thought I was smart/knowledgeable until I started working with people who really are smart/knowledgeable.
I tried to keep up and be one of them, but I do better when I just try to follow along with them and consider alternatives and implications of what they propose.
I wouldn’t say I’m the token idiot, but I have perspectives they don’t, and those are useful. Then again, that’s exactly what the token idiot would say.
The fact that you can follow along & offer a different perspective counts for more than you think, because it shows that you understand.
The worst is the people who think they’re the smartest person in the room, don’t understand what anyone is trying to explain to them, and insist on doing everything their way.
Seems more common than they made it out to be.
I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older, everything I thought was unique to me was fairly common among other people.