Meh…
I was successful in science/engineering for about 25 years before I burned out. I did make it, I’m just tired.
I’m in this picture and I don’t like it. 23 years school then 7 years running a research lab and writing a couple NSF proposals that got accepted. I was happy to cash out, drop clearance, and take an industry job for WTF 2X the money after one year?! No regrets, even if my dissertation is now buried forever. I’m a sellout and I’m totally cool with it. I can do cool shit with my kids now.
My gifted program (late 90s) literally consisted of:
- playing Oregon Trail
- playing Carmen Sandiego
- making a puzzle
- making and presenting an invention ~
- drawing pretty designs with a compass without knowing the actual math behind it ~
- making a didgeridoo and a rain stick
~ these classes were literally in a closet which was a part time “gifted” room.
What I wished they’d taught:
- how to study
- how to manage your time
- how and why to set goals for yourself
- how to start new habits
- how to be persistent
I went to 15+ schools before I graduated highschool, and depending on where I was I was either put into “gifted and talented”, the “extended learning program”, “fast path”, or “Accelerated Track”. Every place had a different philosophy of how to deal with kids who already knew how to read and do math.
Sometimes I would end up in a class with a bunch of quiet bookworms who wore church clothes every day and other times I would be surrounded by rambunctious and highly enthusiastic nerds.
Usually we would play computer games or play games designed to make us engage socially, but sometimes we would actually study interesting stuff in a deep way.
Every one of these programs seems to be a totally improvised and locally unique program. Nothing from the words they used for things to the books, brands, or activities seemed to have any consistency. Since I usually moved in the middle of the school year I would often see multiple versions of each grade’s program.
It made me really glad I didn’t grow up in a small town. Those people are getting screwed.
This is exactly it. So much of it was improvised. And that’s largely by design when you account for how most American schools are funded: unevenly through local levies.
Dang, THAT was the entirety of your school’s genius program? I assume your school was not in an affluent area.
mine was the same.
my school was in the bottom quartile of systems in my state. a quarter of the students were in poverty.
we also only had like 2 computers so we all had to play on them together and work in teams.
Yeah, my “gift” was undiagnosed ADHD which has made life absolutely miserable to navigate once I left the extremely structured environment of school.
Not to cope with this but for me it was more that I was smart enough as a kid to coast through school without putting in any effort, not paying attention in class, not taking notes, not revising and often not even doing homework and just getting good marks on exams from knowing things already or just applying some logic to the questions and because the school system only cares about getting as many kids as possible a passing grade, the school didn’t care and just left people like me to our own devices and focused all the resources on the kids that were failing. Then when I got to A levels/ uni, where things suddenly got way more difficult, I just hadn’t developed and of the skills to actually learn stuff like that and I floundered (and I’m sure having ADHD didn’t help).
So for me at least it was less about burnout and more about my “natural smarts” only taking me so far and the school system failing me (and me also failing myself)
Yes, this is so it for me too. It wasn’t until high school that I was like, “But why am I failing when I didn’t before?!” And a teacher was like, “Umm, well did you study?” And my first thought was, “Why would I have to do that?”
Plot twist: You’re gifted but don’t get recognized so you just sit in gen-pop, acing tests after taking naps in class… pissing off every teacher you encounter.
You then achieve penultimate success in all facets of life, personal and professional.
You start over for the challenge and end up even more successful.
Then you get diagnosed with cancer.
Or something. Totally not my story, nope.
Don’t overlook the journey looking for the destination, folks. You’re only robbing yourself of the one universal asset: Time.
Damn, sorry dude.
What do you mean I can’t get by with the bare minimum effort anymore? That’s all I really learned! That was my real gift!
“I was good at math until they added letters”
“I used to get straight A’s”
“I was gifted untill they realised I was neuro divergent”
Bro you’re dumb now. Why should anyone care that you were above average as a literal child.
There is something to consider though if we are not helping people realize their full potential.
And I doubt that anyone truly gifted as a child is dumb now. Innate intelligence doesn’t just whiff away.
realizing your potential is your job. not anyone else’s. especially as an adult.
stop blaming other people for your failures and lack of drive. if you are unhappy with our life go change it up and become happy.
who hurt you?
pathetic people of from every walk of life who refuse to take responsibility for themselves who think it’s someone else’s job to pay their bills. who want to leech off of hard-working people and suck them dry rather than contribute anything positive to society.
straight A’s
Well, at least you’re creative with your choice of punctuation across the board. 😅🤷🏼♂️
This guy wasn’t gifted
I wasn’t told I was gifted, though I was told I was “Smart but undisciplined/lazy” by my dad all the time. Who seemed more angry that I was undisciplined than proud that I was smart.
Turns out I am just autistic. And while I’m smart about random but highly specific things I had (and arguably still have) no attention or patience for stuff outside my hyper fixations.
Also I interview terribly. Every job search has taken ages, but once I get a job I always end up making my bosses very happy with my performance.
I have a fairly middle of the road job for where I live miraculously but that’s probably because the lady who hired me was very pregnant and on her way out to maternity leave and wanted to be done looking for a new admin assistant. I’m definitely underemployed though.
Having a high intelligence level shouldn’t mean you owe anybody to ‘make it big’, regardless of what that means.
THANK YOU. You were over-praised by well intentioned but misguided educators.
They gave us participation awards for things they invented around us.
I swear, it was all to placate Boomer parents.
How about being above average intelligence, but get placed in below average classes because one child study team person decided you had “auditory” problems while you were in kindergarten? I recently found out that my highschool guidance counselors lied about my placement tests and I should have been in honors science instead of remedial.
Either you are called lazy for being chill despite knowing how much potential you could show to please yourself and others, or you could be pushing yourself to burnout and despair to please yourself and others.
Its nice to have a narrative for yourself.
I never burned out. I developed hobbies and found I enjoyed more physical work.
yep. having a life outside of your work and having an identity outside of it is huge.
sadly i meet so few people who have this.
“I could’ve done physics” is the billionaire equivalent of “could have gone pro.”
