Wow. I find that horrifying, to be honest. Probably because I was one of those gifted kids and I'm so very thankful that my school experiences weren't like that. I never got anger or annoyance from teachers for being smart (or a smart Alec-- I mean, at 4 y.o. I stood up on the first day of class and said it was boring because I already knew how to read -- in hindsight, wow was that obnoxious).
I think it helped that mum used to have activity books for me after school -- I don't know if other kids sat down for an hour of "homework" and did older classes math and English, but it was normal for me. I was also a huge bookworm so I'd happpily finish early and sit at my desk reading.
I feel like a lot of it was set by my teacher in second grade, who'd run math quizzes where if answered three things correctly you were allowed to sit on the floor and literally twiddle your thumbs, being told that you "were smart enough that you could sit back and twiddle your thumbs and not look silly". It really set that idea in my head that if you were smart, you could be different and it was okay (and being smart has always been something that I value, so that lesson ran deep).
I didn't take many tests as a kid. No personality ones. Only statewide math and science ones, which were usually set over two year groups (like, 7&8 sat the same test) and I always scored in the 90-95 percentile.
I do remember sitting a test at the start of high school -- it was for a higher education stream run at a particular high school.it was supposed to be restricted to the top 20 public school student sin town and Mum let me sit because she thought I wouldn't get in. I did get in, but I nly knew one girl there who ignored me, and I ended up making friends with some very rough kids who were far more worldly than I was at 12 -- and Mum pulled me out and moved schools back to the high school I should have attended. (A week later there was a knife fight between the *teachers* at that school so I definitely think Mum made the right call. Despite the higher ed class, the rest of the school wasn't being managed well with principals ignoring drug pushing on campus and trying to threaten Mum that no other public school would take me. Mum is not one to bow down to bullies.)
no subject
I think it helped that mum used to have activity books for me after school -- I don't know if other kids sat down for an hour of "homework" and did older classes math and English, but it was normal for me. I was also a huge bookworm so I'd happpily finish early and sit at my desk reading.
I feel like a lot of it was set by my teacher in second grade, who'd run math quizzes where if answered three things correctly you were allowed to sit on the floor and literally twiddle your thumbs, being told that you "were smart enough that you could sit back and twiddle your thumbs and not look silly". It really set that idea in my head that if you were smart, you could be different and it was okay (and being smart has always been something that I value, so that lesson ran deep).
I didn't take many tests as a kid. No personality ones. Only statewide math and science ones, which were usually set over two year groups (like, 7&8 sat the same test) and I always scored in the 90-95 percentile.
I do remember sitting a test at the start of high school -- it was for a higher education stream run at a particular high school.it was supposed to be restricted to the top 20 public school student sin town and Mum let me sit because she thought I wouldn't get in. I did get in, but I nly knew one girl there who ignored me, and I ended up making friends with some very rough kids who were far more worldly than I was at 12 -- and Mum pulled me out and moved schools back to the high school I should have attended. (A week later there was a knife fight between the *teachers* at that school so I definitely think Mum made the right call. Despite the higher ed class, the rest of the school wasn't being managed well with principals ignoring drug pushing on campus and trying to threaten Mum that no other public school would take me. Mum is not one to bow down to bullies.)