Brainy Children

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Were any of you guys really brainy or intelligent as a child? I ask because I was thinking about how when I was in elementary school I was constantly reading books about animals, dinosaurs or a world atlas, as opposed to other things. And even occasionally correcting teachers when they made a geographical error.

I was pretty smart as a kid--not extremely so. Had extensive knowledge of facts, was relatively lacking in critical thinking skills (though not bad for a kid).

I still have lots of "facts" at my fingertips. My critical thinking skills are better--but not consummate. I'm not a deep, philosophical-type thinker. I enjoy history, sports, panel discussions about events. I enjoy ethical thinking, but I don't enjoy talking about "ethics" LOL

Oh, yes, correcting the teacher doesn't make for either good social standing or good report cards, in my experience.

It wasn't very often I did that, in fact I only remember doing it twice and to two different teachers, and my report cards were pretty good. Math was a struggle though.

Tip #1. When your seventh grade teacher blows up a science demonstration on hydrogen, you shouldn't laugh.

Tip #2. When you are beaten with a 2x4, if you can get the person beating you to talk, he slows down to the cadence of his speech.

Did this teacher blow up the experiment on purpose or was it not planned?

It was not planned. There were glassware fragments in the acoustic ceiling tile for the rest of the year. No one was hurt, but the expression of surprise on his face was ironic considering how he presented himself as knowing everything.

ValentineWiggin I like your 16/04 avatar picture

Why is autism on the increase:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_BS_LkhRmk[/youtube]

Yes I was brainy. I was way ahead of all my peers and my teachers.

My elementary school wanted to put me into 4th grade straight out of Kindergarten. My parent's didn't think it would be good for my social life and self-esteem (ha, like I have either of these anyway) to be around kids 3-4 years older than me.

This is similar to what happened to me. I was offered to skip grades on two different occasions in elementary school but my mom said no both times because she worried about my social growth. I still wish I could have skipped because I would have been done faster.

I was always considered smart in school, though I did struggle with math.

I was a "math genius" as a child (although I still don't remember the multiplication table and I learned
multiplication of fractions AFTER learning division of fractions however impossible it might sound: multiplication of fractions was just "too stupid, boring and useless" for me, I didn't see a point in learning it , but once I realized it is needed for the division I got it instantly).

At age 5 I was able to use negative numbers - I learned it looking at the thermometer grandma got behind a window. I remember preschool teacher made a mistake once and gave us an example like this. None of my classmates was able to finish it (they told the teacher it is impossible because you can't go less than zero) but then I told them: "It isn't impossible, I already did it. The result is minus 3." And I was right.

I was top of my class at the math for my whole school life. Straight A - even without multiplication table in mind (I was multiplying it my way - using only the 1-5x and 10x multiplications and adding/substracting the results).

I have learning disabilities so I'm not very good at schoolwork and bombed out of mainstream school, which I tried the first time in the 7th grade. But a college student I know online who's studying neurology, thinks I'm brilliant and calls me "Little Eisenstein". Others have told me they think I'm brainy too. I guess street type smarts, instead of book smart? idk

This is the opposite of what happened to me. I was kept behind an extra year around 2nd grade because my development wasn't that great. Regardless I could easily point out all 50 states and capitals on a map or puzzle with no hesitation, and then move on to world countries in the same manner. I even knew that phytoplankton were the base of a food chain, though Magic School Bus episodes helped out a lot with that.

Apparently all this freaked out other people though.

"You're so smart."

Omfg I heard that way too often growing up.
Still do on occasion.

My response: "Maybe, but that's never been particularly useful or helpful for me."

What good is it to be smart but not really motivated or driven to do anything in particular with it?
Sure, it's fun at parties, and lately I've actually gotten some work because of it which is nice but not steady.

For the most part though, it just makes me blurt out random info, correct people, argue with people, and generally act arrogant and like a smartass/knowitall.
Not that I'd want to not be smart... It's just that it's not as helpful, useful, or practical as most people seem to think, and there are whole areas that I'm completely inapable of understanding, even though intellectually I can, with effort, patience, and time, but there's a disconnect that prevents me from really understanding some things on a deeper level.
It's why I'm incapable of drawing, painting, etc, even on the computer.

I'm just terrible at all that numbers to pictures & (music) stuff. I know that there's a connection, and I can plot individual points to get some idea of what's going on and narrow it down, but on a deeper level it's meaningless to me & forgotten quickly if I don't maintain the thought with a lof of concentration because the numbers don't connect to the pictures (sounds) for me, and never have.

No doubt, I get that all the time. Seriously what good are brains when you have nowhere to apply them? My aspie focus-driven problem is reading. I love the shape of text, especially in good solid paragraph blocks-- mmm, so symmetrical. I'll read anything from ancient literature and history to math and science books. I'll comprehend it all too, enough to point out glaring errors in other people's statements. Unfortunately I don't have the ability to creatively think and make the connections among all those disciplines like many others can. Therefore, my "special" ability is nothing more than collecting useless information and appearing to be an *ssh*le to anyone I try to communicate that information with.