Re: PreMeds would made Great MTs

From: SANDITYPES (sanditypes_at_aol.comshazbot)
Date: 07/26/04 

Date: 26 Jul 2004 20:16:56 GMT

>And even if I were, what difference would it make. I don't complain
>about other MTs who describe their successes at school, or those who
>identify themselves as Christian . . .
>
>What is it about one's saying that one is intelligent that upsets some
>of the people on this group so much? I have never said that anyone
>else isn't intelligent, unless some are upset about the numbers that
>were revealed when people posted about the online IQ test.
>
>Get over it. I'm intelligent. It's a huge part of who I am, always
>has been. If it bothers you, then just ignore my posts.
>
>Joi
>
Well, I've been deliberately staying out of this one because I have such strong
feelings about it, but since I'm the one who brags about school successes, I
reckon I'm dragged in kicking and screaming. :)

Everyone here is intelligent. But everyone here is not placing the value on
sheer IQ that you are. As a person who once had her whole life defined by her
IQ number, I know the folly of that kind of thinking. I know the kind of
pressure that kind of thinking puts on children, and I know the reality of life
that that kind of thinking ignores.

In particular as it relates to children, I almost want to cry when I hear of a
child being homeschooled in obscure subjects while the subject of taunts and
hatred from children her own age because she can't relate to them on an
age-appropriate level.

Quite honestly, I understand why a child who is studying Japanese for fun and
getting Microsoft certified as a preteen would find herself a social outcast
among her peers. It is not because she is so smart that they can't relate to
her; it is because her smarts are all "book smarts," which in the grand scheme
of life have very little return for the effort.

There is intelligence in the way that it is usually understood, the IQ, bookish
kind, and then there is emotional intelligence, which enables us to interact
with others and be a part of the world in which we live, the world OUTSIDE of
books. Often children who show early on that they have the traditional kind
get a lot of attention devoted to developing that intelligence, at the expense
of having to develop the emotional kind, which in my opinion is more important
to life success than "book learnin'" (as we used to say in WV) could ever be.

Call it common sense, as Dee did somewhere in one of these threads, or
socialization, or whatever. Whatever it is, kids need it. And they can't get
it from us. They get it from their own peer group. A child can be perfectly
charming to adults (although often polite adults don't say what they are really
thinking, which is that the precocious child is an unbearable little snot), and
kids his or her own age will not be able to stand him or her. Not because he
or she is too smart, but because he or she thinks or knows, "I'm smarter than
you," and might know the history of the pythagorean theorem, but can't have a
conversation about teenage things.

Now, I hear the strains of "teenage things are not important," and to us adults
they seem silly. Lip gloss and what singer is hot and which boy spoke to whom
on the bus seems totally unimportant, and it is easy to say, "Oh, children
don't need to know THAT. It's so much more important that they read Keats."
But I am convinced that teenage silliness, and the artifical importance teenage
things hold, are just as vital to development as any other stage of
development, as learning to walk or the terrible twos are.

I've wandered far afield, because as a child pushed to the limits because I had
a bit of brainpower, I know the damage that can do.

To try to get back on track, I guess in a nutshell what I mean to say is, when
I holler how excited I am that my grades were decent, it's the excitement of
realizing a dream that I am trying to convey, and maybe the hope that someone
else who has a dream will realize it's never too late to pursue it. It's
sharing that excitement with others. I don't tell y'all to say "nyah nyah, I'm
better than you." If I did, I'd have posted my class rank, invitation to join
law journal or the fact that I got accepted to that top tier school I wanted to
transfer to, which I deliberately kept by myself because I knew everyone one
was sick of hearing it.

I think that's what's ruffling a few feathers. Trust me, it's not jealousy that
you're so smart that is getting you these responses. It's the attitude about
it, how it is the defining factor in who's better than who. In short, it's the
lack of tact and humility everyone is crowing about. At least that's my take
on it.

Sandi

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