Am I stupid for being in a lower class?

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20 Feb 2012, 9:43 pm

I'm gifted in creative writing and art/craft so I excelled in English (well, the creative writing side of it... I always had trouble with spelling) and in art class.

But I was below average in Maths and if I'd stayed at school I would have been put back a class in Maths and Science.

I know how to use a calculator, so that's good enough for me. Life's too short to be focusing on what I'm no good at. I put my energy into focusing on my strengths.

And no, OP, you are not stupid. If you have to go back a class in Maths then so be it... just do it, but remember to focus on what you're good at, too!



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21 Feb 2012, 6:03 am

I was never any good at maths and I went and did a numercy course I can add up and take away a bit now but that's as far as it goes.

No your not stupid there would be things that you are good at just do the best you can with the maths and you'll be alright.



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21 Feb 2012, 9:49 am

I wouldn't worry about it OP, I was shoved back in class because I once said I couldn't keep up with the teachers talking, instead of him rabbiting on at 19 to the dozen with his back turned so I couldn't "hear" what he was saying and expecting me to be able to write fast enough I was instead thrown in school hell to the bottom set with people who are one step away from eating their own shoelaces; although I had pretty much quit years before that was the breaking point.

Have you any idea what it is like to be 13, have a reading comprehension beyond that of virtually all those I come in contact with and have to explain words to most adults and be shoved in a class of people who are trying to figure out why a cat is sat on the mat?

People are stupid, but don't let their stupidity put a label on you, only you have the right to do that, unless you really are stupid I would put that thought out of your head :p

Maths and large blocks of similar symbols have always been an issue to me; which is why I once stepped down from an admin role on a very busy forum; I couldn't follow or find anything though I excel at the actual day to day functions...so yes, while not a top level admin I am still one of the top dogs.


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21 Feb 2012, 11:29 am

Yer but isn't everybody better at some things than others? I am very bad at maths but very good with spelling. But I know a lot of people who are good at maths but can't spell for toffee, or vice versa.

It's not like, NTs get D's in every subject and Aspies get A's in maths and G's in sports. As an Aspie, my IQ is just average, or maybe underaverage, and the highest grade I got was a C, but I know lots of NTs who got higher grades than that. In fact, most people did.


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21 Feb 2012, 11:40 am

No, you are not "stupid".

If, that's the case, then I am, too, since I barely passed high school algebra with Ds and had to take remedial math when I entered college since I made such a low score on the ACT math portion. You might have dyscalculia, which is a mathematical dyslexia. Have you've been tested for it?


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Callista
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21 Feb 2012, 5:20 pm

Sparhawke wrote:
I wouldn't worry about it OP, I was shoved back in class because I once said I couldn't keep up with the teachers talking, instead of him rabbiting on at 19 to the dozen with his back turned so I couldn't "hear" what he was saying and expecting me to be able to write fast enough I was instead thrown in school hell to the bottom set with people who are one step away from eating their own shoelaces; although I had pretty much quit years before that was the breaking point.
Eating their own shoelaces, huh? Must've been one heck of a boring special ed class, if they had to resort to that for entertainment.

Shows that it's important to check to make sure you can get the information from the teacher. I have huge problems with that; when asked to learn from lectures only, my learning is limited to the quality of notes I can grab before I burn out from the intense auditory processing demand. Give me a book, though, and I'm off and running. I consider myself lucky not to have been stuck in a regular classroom most of the time; I was home-schooled or in very small classes; and now, in college, I only have to attend two to four hours of classes daily. If used properly, special ed can benefit not just those who are slower learners, but those who are simply different learners. If you're slower, of course you need a simpler, slower-paced lesson; but if you're different, it doesn't matter how much they slow it down--it still won't help you. Bad idea to assume that slowing things down cures every learning problem. It might help with some problems, but there are other ways, often better ways, to teach things.


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21 Feb 2012, 7:23 pm

Callista wrote:
Rascal77s wrote:
Ganondox wrote:
As I am an evil nazi witch who happens to be exceptionally good at math I consider everyone who is bad ( bad meaning "can't even do calculus in the 10th grade!") at math to be stupid, and therefor I have concluded that the vast majority of the Earths population are idiots.

To be honest, I really don't think OPoster is that good at English either...


You're not a nazi, you're douche bag. Now stop being a douche bag, Douche Bag.
Ditto. Ganondox, it's fine to be happy that you are good at math; taking pleasure in your own talents and accomplishments makes a good deal of sense. But please, please don't transfer that into looking down on people who don't have those talents.

Think of something you are bad at, yourself; maybe socializing, since goodness knows that's a weakness for all of us. Now imagine someone else looks down on you for not being good at it. Wouldn't it be wrong of them to do that? Wouldn't they be wrong to think you weren't good at anything else, because you were bad at that one thing?

:roll: I wasn't being serious, I was just being a stupid [insert word here], hence me calling myself an evil nazi witch, claiming to hold ridiculous expectations of everyone else, and following up with "to be honest". Maybe I should have thrown in a few emoticons.


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21 Feb 2012, 8:02 pm

Pensive] wrote:
Also, aren't those people that are right brained more creative than logical? Those that are mostly left brained would be good at math. But it really doesn't matter. My sister is left handed and she's always hated maths.


No.

1. I'm left-handed, therefor right brained, and my stregnth is math.
2. Creative isn't the opposite of logical, they are different things.
3. Left brained being analytical and right brained being creative is a myth, I think it's actually that the left brain is asscoiated with verbal thinking while the right brain is associated with spatial thinking, but I'm not sure.


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Orr
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21 Feb 2012, 8:31 pm

May be you should just leave the thread. I hope you do not feel I am asking you to change your behaviour in such a way as to cause you to lose your identity.


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kingjamie92
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21 Feb 2012, 8:41 pm

Was in bottom set English in years 7-9 (only reason why I moved up was due to getting level 5 in Key Stage 3 SATS) and just scraped a C GCSE grade by one mark. Also had extra time in exams to due my handwriting difficulties and took exams in SEN room. Still managed at least grade C in all my GCSEs, even had an A in ICT!

Also was in bottom set in Science for years 8-10 and they put on a BTEC course rather then GCSE, moved up to the higher BTEC set in at the end of year 10 for year 11 (a higher level BTEC qualification).

Also, I took once less GCSE and had two on hours free lessons per week to catch up on coursework/exam revision etc with help from SEN teacher.

Was very poor at drawing/art, never got more than 4/10 for homework, apart from one time when I got 8/10 for a collage, thankfully I was able to drop it.

I was also very poor at PE, due strulling with co-ordination, always picked last for football/rugby teams (prefer watching to playing!) etc, came near the back at long distance running. Also couldn't grasp Foreign Language lessons, and I dropped them before year 10.

Was in high sets for Maths, Geography and ICT though.



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22 Feb 2012, 9:07 am

As has been said before, people with asperger's are often academically uneven, smart in some things but horrible at others. I was really bad at math in school. But you know what, it's good that you know what you're good at and what you aren't. High school is only a few years, after that you can focus on the things you like/are good at.



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22 Feb 2012, 9:33 am

Well, kind of. Here in the US, at least, you have to take "general education" classes in college, and most of the time that includes at least algebra. But colleges also know that there are people with math learning problems who come to college and are just fine at non-math things, and have classes that are simpler than that so you can catch up in college. Here at my school, the simplest math classes actually cover things like multiplication and division--stuff way back from elementary school. If you have dyscalculia (i.e., math learning disability) you might need those classes. So, even if you have to take math in college, there are ways to catch up, and learn at your own pace.

Your other obstacle is probably the SAT/ACT. I'm not sure if you have a documented disability or not--if you do, and you usually get extended testing time, you can get that on the SAT/ACT. Obviously you will only find that useful if part of your problem is that you take longer to do math. On the other hand, both the SAT and ACT have math and non-math sections; so, if you had a horrible score on the math, and a good score on the non-math parts, you could explain that on your college application--"Yes, I'm horrible at math, but look at my scores on these other parts of the SAT/ACT--I have strengths I want to develop at your school."

I'm not sure what the equivalent of SAT/ACT is in other countries. I know they have entrance exams and such, though, so I guess it's probably the same; and the principle of explaining that your math weakness doesn't hinder you in other areas is probably pretty useful in any school. And of course if you are applying for a program without general-education classes involved, then you don't even need to worry about it.


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Ellendra
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22 Feb 2012, 3:02 pm

Rascal77s wrote:
Ellendra wrote:
I excelled in math and science, but failed high school because I couldn't write an essay to save my life. Some people learn certain things faster or slower than others. Nothing to be ashamed of.


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22 Feb 2012, 3:17 pm

XFilesGeek wrote:
I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's possible you just haven't figured out how your brain absorbs numerical information yet. And, if you pay attention to many of the people who are "good" at math, you'll find that a lot of them are just skilled at rote memorization and following step-by-step-instructions. Trained monkeys......not thinkers.

My general litmus test for any form of "intelligence" is what you actually can DO with it. Grades are only a small fraction of the whole story.



Math is a language. Just like in most language classes, you can see students stringing words together from the "English to ____" dictionary, but the tenses are all wrong and the words are in the wrong order. Compare that to someone who speaks it fluently. Math is the same way.

At least, that's how I see it. It makes sense to me, not because of a list of rules, but because it's a language I understand.



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22 Feb 2012, 3:36 pm

user1001 wrote:
I am male and 17 and I think I have autism or aspurgers and I would like to know am I dumb for being put back in a special math class? I was in special modified math classes for two years and then I finaly moved into my algerbra 1 class during when I was a junior and I tried it for one semester and I failed it but I feel so stupid because now I am going back into a remidial math class. I think I may be more autistic because I think people with aspurgers would be to smart to be put back in a special class. So now I think I am more autistic than aspurgers. I also feel really stupid now and I wonder if I have something wrong with me becasue I failed a low class. Am I the only one?


>>> I failed Kindergarden and college 3 times (hard of learning, I'll never give up my dream though). I earned a medal, for helping the poor for 10 years. In the adult world, which soon you join in, takes no consideration to high school. Just do your best as an adult or NOW, helping people who are hurting in the world, and you have done MORE than some high powered banker-scientist great Lord or Lady, who delighted in making the world suck. Or worse, those who have the capabilities you envy, yet do absolutely NOTHING with it.

I for one, don't envy these people anymore, They're mean people, and mean people sucks. so what they succeeded academically. Have they helped us as a human spieces evolve? (ie the community grow?). I've seen homeless assist other homeless through trials such as alcholism, or basic humananites such as kindness and manners. That my bullies didn't possess...


In addition my friend, Get a job in the trades work there for like 15 years, training training training TRAINING, Every little skill you can think of, Then you move up managerial, and live some what even lives as these so called students who put you down, but if you do decide to help us out my friend... heh heh, you're one step ahead of them, MANLY wise. MEN WORK. Boys play, and these rich pillars of society that have the so called brains. Only play, and look the world is so screwed up with all these banks melting down, economic riots, regardless of politics

And it's the farmers and workers that have to man up and fix things. The question there for is are you such a person? then, you're already a greater man than I Gunga din.



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10 Feb 2014, 5:11 pm

user1001 wrote:
I am male and 17 and I think I have autism or aspurgers and I would like to know am I dumb for being put back in a special math class? I was in special modified math classes for two years and then I finaly moved into my algerbra 1 class during when I was a junior and I tried it for one semester and I failed it but I feel so stupid because now I am going back into a remidial math class. I think I may be more autistic because I think people with aspurgers would be to smart to be put back in a special class. So now I think I am more autistic than aspurgers. I also feel really stupid now and I wonder if I have something wrong with me becasue I failed a low class. Am I the only one?


I am male and 31. I used to do very well in school. in the 90's or A's across the board. I scored 1410 on my SAT's back in 1999. I never felt stupid until I started working for a living. I was unable to find a job that wanted me so I ended up working building maintenance, carpentry, plumbing, cleaning, etc... stuff that I taught myself from scratch with wikipedia, youtube, and tradesmen forums. It is hard, dirty, and humbling work but I'm glad to be working and not on SSI. Not only is this a lower-class job that makes little money, or as we like to call it "working-class" job, I STILL get called stupid by my boss pretty consistently because I don't communicate perfectly normally "standard talk" like other workers do and he projects this on all my other skills and basically calls me stupid, slow, blind, deaf, etc... I am very good at the plumbing and carpentry aspect of the job and other people I work with praise me for it but I HATE to clean and I can't seem to or dont want to get good at it. The reality of the situation is that I have no choice but to put up with this as long as i can until I no longer can because without a college degree and without sales skills or peope skills, I will never be able to make a comfortable living and get treated with respect. I feel like nature has served me a very cold and bitter plate and I have no choice but to eat it to survive. IQ and skills have little to do with one's career and success in life. You can be a genius and a janitor at the same time if you can't emulate NT's.

I guess what i'm trying to say is that you should work on developing your people and sales skills because it matters a lot more than people will tell you in school. Some of the dumbest people are the most successful and powerful.. just because they have sales and people skills down