Actually, for spelling tests and stuff I had no problems. I could memorize anything I HAD to memorize for a day or two, and then forget it.
Jet has the same tendency. He does great on spelling tests; but doesn't do very well when writing, so it didn't and doesn't show up on spelling tests. And honestly, my parents didn't care about English or Literature scores other than how they might affect how I got into college. And that was back when parents really didn't talk with teachers that much. The helicopter syndrome wasn't nearly as bad, and they never thought much of it.
Also, amusingly enough, in elementary school I had an IQ test when I was probably a little too old for it and tested below the limit for the Mentally Gifted Minors program. Two of my teachers stood up for me and said that I should be in it anyway, so I was put in; but early on I was pretty much told I wasn't going to be "smart enough" for the program.
Always had that feeling as a kid, as my younger sister scored significantly higher than I did on the IQ tests, so she was "the smart one" in the family and I was "the nice one" in the family. So I just worked harder.
It kind of stood me in good stead because while I did score really high in high school, comparatively, it wasn't like I was the best in my high school. So when I got to Caltech, I wasn't at all shocked that I wasn't one of the best, whereas 90% of the kids that got in were the number one student in their school. And when, on the first physics quiz, ALL but one guy failed it (and that one guy went on to become a star physicist), it was nigh on suicide for most of the guys. So I didn't get hit as hard, emotionally, and kept a pretty even keel. It might not surprise you that I took 7 or 8 courses each quarter my freshman year, and fenced competitively.
Principles shouldn't be time consuming, if the teachers are teaching it that way. If the classes, however, are pointing towards memorization and just specific applications (as many of the UC school physics and calculus classes were), I could see how it would take a lot more time.
And I'm not sure how those students are deemed "more talented" or not?
Mmm... I don't think it was exposure so much as the simple fact that my mind like mathematics and the concepts implied. And I don't like exception-based systems, like spelling. I still don't do well at spelling, really, even knowing it's a visual memorization problem, I just don't care enough except when it comes to differentiating between words.
no subject
Jet has the same tendency. He does great on spelling tests; but doesn't do very well when writing, so it didn't and doesn't show up on spelling tests. And honestly, my parents didn't care about English or Literature scores other than how they might affect how I got into college. And that was back when parents really didn't talk with teachers that much. The helicopter syndrome wasn't nearly as bad, and they never thought much of it.
Also, amusingly enough, in elementary school I had an IQ test when I was probably a little too old for it and tested below the limit for the Mentally Gifted Minors program. Two of my teachers stood up for me and said that I should be in it anyway, so I was put in; but early on I was pretty much told I wasn't going to be "smart enough" for the program.
Always had that feeling as a kid, as my younger sister scored significantly higher than I did on the IQ tests, so she was "the smart one" in the family and I was "the nice one" in the family. So I just worked harder.
It kind of stood me in good stead because while I did score really high in high school, comparatively, it wasn't like I was the best in my high school. So when I got to Caltech, I wasn't at all shocked that I wasn't one of the best, whereas 90% of the kids that got in were the number one student in their school. And when, on the first physics quiz, ALL but one guy failed it (and that one guy went on to become a star physicist), it was nigh on suicide for most of the guys. So I didn't get hit as hard, emotionally, and kept a pretty even keel. It might not surprise you that I took 7 or 8 courses each quarter my freshman year, and fenced competitively.
Principles shouldn't be time consuming, if the teachers are teaching it that way. If the classes, however, are pointing towards memorization and just specific applications (as many of the UC school physics and calculus classes were), I could see how it would take a lot more time.
And I'm not sure how those students are deemed "more talented" or not?
Mmm... I don't think it was exposure so much as the simple fact that my mind like mathematics and the concepts implied. And I don't like exception-based systems, like spelling. I still don't do well at spelling, really, even knowing it's a visual memorization problem, I just don't care enough except when it comes to differentiating between words.