For Me, No More Wheeling at Large Events

[ShadowsPapa]

Don't be fooled. A lot of intellectual people are not very academic. For example, I underperformed so much in 2nd grade that I was referred for Special Education testing. Long story short, I scored in the 97th percentile for intelligence. Obviously, there was a discrepancy. My intelligence was at or near the gifted range, but I was underperforming. The school and my parents decided to hold me back, which meant I got to repeat 2nd grade.

The school psychologist reviewed the test results with my parents. During the test, the psychologist asked me to name the 4 seasons of the year. Without hesitation, I said, "deer, turkey, quail, and pheasant", lol. Even though that wasn't the answer they were looking for, I actually got bonus points for giving a creative answer.
Ironically, the 97th percentile corresponds to an IQ of 128-130. When I was in graduate school, I took a few IQ tests and scored in the 129 - 131 range.

Now that I have studied intelligence, education, sociology and psychology, I can tell you that school doesn't interest a lot of children, especially males. When I was in 2nd grade, I was helping my Grandad (on my mom's side) and my Grandpa (on my dad's side) with farm work. Going to school to cut and paste shapes wasn't something I was interested in, especially when I was already doing more complex tasks on the farm (helping change oil on the tractor, working on equipment, gardening, planting, milking, feeding animals, shucking corn, hauling firewood, etc.). My real education was working on the farm, not so much from the classroom.

I will leave you with this quote:

"By preventing a free market in education, a handful of social engineers – backed by the industries that profit from compulsory schooling: teacher colleges, textbook publishers, materials suppliers, et al. – has ensured that most of our children will not have an education, even though they may be thoroughly schooled." -John Taylor Gatto (New York City Teacher of the Year on three occasions)

Does that ever sound familiar..... Down to the school psychologist being called in and the testing. Poor grades in some school years yet top 5% nationally. Until college, that is, then top of class because of interest and it was my choice. Tested "superior" in math but can't show my work. Tested out of college math class. Now they know why I didn't do well in typical school classes but back then they didn't really know

Sponsored

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

Are y’all trying to say intellectual people drive Jeeps?

 

[biodiesel]

Does that ever sound familiar..... Down to the school psychologist being called in and the testing.

The highest math class I took in high school was Tech-Algebra. I passed it with a "D". I got my other math credits by taking Drafting I, Drafting II, and Personal Finance. The same goes for English. I didn't even take senior English. Instead, I took creative writing. The school told me that I wasn't preparing myself for college.

I went to college on a full ride scholarship for athletics. In those four years, I graduated with a major and minor. I didn't pay a dime for college. Coach paid for me to stay on campus during the summer months, so that's how I got a major and minor in 4 years while being a fulltime athlete. I knew I could make $15,000 more per year if I got my master's degree, so I went back to school while working fulltime. I did my master's degree in two years and had a 4.0 GPA. @ShadowsPapa is right. When learning is interesting and relevant, intellectual people are more likely to rise to the occasion and do well.

Intellectual people struggle because they don't always fit well into social situations easily. We tend to question and analyze systems. Many states offer gifted education programs, but not every program is helpful. Students need more than AP, Honors, and Dual Credit classes. They need access to a more diverse curriculum. They also need support with social and emotional needs. Honestly, every student needs these supports, but the 'system' doesn't allow such flexibility.

Even though I'm at a small college campus, I have high school students working on different degrees/certificates. They range from criminal justice, welding, nursing, education, business, automotive, electrical, dental hygiene, liberal arts, general studies, science, cosmetology, etc.

The key is to stimulate student engagement and prevent boredom, quiet quitting, and dropping out. So yes, being intellectually smart doesn't necessarily equate to classroom achievement, it simply means that we tend to see the world differently. This is why some people, like @WILDHOBO, end up owning their own business. They do better with independence (entrepreneurship) than they do with rigid systems (corporations and other bureaucracies).

Even though I have a lot of autonomy in what I do in education, I'm still under a stranglehold and work for people who are educated, but not intellectual. Like many government and socialistic programs, there's a great deal of bureaucracy.

 

[biodiesel]

Are y’all trying to say intellectual people drive Jeeps?

You might be surprised by the number of nerds and geeks that own a Jeep. To be fair, Jeep does attract those with an independent spirit, so it would be fitting.

 

[Zachanadandy]

School was always easy for me due to the semi-eidetic memory. Copy the homework from someone else, and they copy my test. I remembered everything I copied so 100% were common. 4.0 GPA my senior year despite missing 23 days in AP bio because our grade was 100% based on tests. Fast forward to college and they are now grading homework and assigning group projects? Dropped out and went into the trades where my success will be 100% based on my performance. 26 years later and it's been a great living and a great career. I am proud to drive around the bay area and point out all the places I've helped build. Our education system is built for mediocrity and wage slaves who can't/ won't think for themselves.

 

[WILDHOBO]

My best years, although the least income, were my farm years. I was my boss. I figured everything out - had to, but preferred it that way. You had to plan, repair, move to plan B or C should A fail, be ready for anything.
I got a nice letter from the local bank when I sold out and moved - they said I was one of their only customers to actually have an INCREASE in net worth during that time. It was the 1980s - many went bust, sold out, farm auctions every weekend..........
I fed out pigs for a neighbor who ran out of space and wanted to expand. He bought the pigs, I fed them out and then he sold them and I got a percentage based on death numbers, feed efficiency and more factors. My death loss was so low and the feed efficiency so high at one point he said I was killing him with my numbers. I made much, he made little he ended up paying me so much.

When I worked for others, especially the state - I got my boss to trust me so much he pretty much just let me do my thing as long as goals were met. I exceeded those goals and had so much better up times with the remote offices even those offices were commenting to the administrator after Bernie retired and I took over as admin. I pretty much re-wrote all of his Cisco ASA scripts. The boss had no idea I was doing this so it was a real shock and impact to suddenly start getting comments on how well things were suddenly working.

Similar at CCC - that was quite a story (and sadly, ended up getting my boss fired and me put in charge of network connectivity)

I ran my own shop at age 16 - still have the newspaper article about it.

I'm typically a better worker when going independently. I DO have to watch it with the ADHD, though - distractions are killer - rabbit holes surround us. Notes, reminders, alarms, Alexa is a big help - Alexa, remind me to get those contract cancellation letters out today.

You’re not wrong. The distractions are very difficult. I’ve found that being in an out of the way “room” keeps me more focused.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Just by chance, I ended up in a three way conversation today. Three gladiator owners. Three people that can’t leave anything alone. Three IT professionals. Small world indeed.

 

[tj3089]

Holy crap! This is the thread that just keeps on dishing out content! I was hooked once Jeremy replied and I am glad @WILDHOBO and him were able to talk it out like men. Then the lite brite only fans bomb which was news to me and then the troll getting banned for obviously being a troll! Wow, thanks for helping me kill time on my work breaks.

Also, to comment on the whole influencer thing. I like to post content and edit videos because it keeps me from doom scrolling as much and connects me with a lot of cool, like minded people. Tv shows and movies can't hold a candle to all the creative people out on the web.

 

[suroot]

Just by chance, I ended up in a three way conversation today. Three gladiator owners. Three people that can’t leave anything alone. Three IT professionals. Small world indeed.

Nice you meet you in person yesterday Dan!

 

[WILDHOBO]

Holy crap! This is the thread that just keeps on dishing out content! I was hooked once Jeremy replied and I am glad @WILDHOBO and him were able to talk it out like men. Then the lite brite only fans bomb which was news to me and then the troll getting banned for obviously being a troll! Wow, thanks for helping me kill time on my work breaks.

Also, to comment on the whole influencer thing. I like to post content and edit videos because it keeps me from doom scrolling as much and connects me with a lot of cool, like minded people. Tv shows and movies can't hold a candle to all the creative people out on the web.

I can totally see where it would be a good outlet. I just don’t have that personality. I’m nervous doing product reviews on video.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Nice you meet you in person yesterday Dan!

And you, Bill! I hope it’s not the last time. Hopefully we can drive over some rocks together when mine is back to trail ready.

 

[tj3089]

I can totally see where it would be a good outlet. I just don’t have that personality. I’m nervous doing product reviews on video.

Oh I meant to ask, what air pressure were you running when the beads popped off? I was thinking of getting a set of teraflex nomad wheels, but your story has me second guessing. I might just bite the bullet and get a set of beadlocks.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

Oh I meant to ask, what air pressure were you running when the beads popped off? I was thinking of getting a set of teraflex nomad wheels, but your story has me second guessing. I might just bite the bullet and get a set of beadlocks.

Ha!! I was just looking at Battle Born beadlocks after reading this too. 1 more thing to add to the ever growing list.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Oh I meant to ask, what air pressure were you running when the beads popped off? I was thinking of getting a set of teraflex nomad wheels, but your story has me second guessing. I might just bite the bullet and get a set of beadlocks.

14ish. To be fair, I’ve had them for years, and down to 10 wheeling, and this was the very first time. It happened, but it didn’t make me want to go out and buy Beadlocks. Did I consider it? I did. And maybe someday, but they’d need to be pretty light. I certainly wasn’t mad at the wheels. Just part of the day I guess.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

It happens. I’ve never completely broken a bead before myself but have burped them doing some side climb work at around that psi. I was on Mickey Thompson Classics at the time with the cool bead protector. Thing eventually looked like a strip of bacon but it did its job. Have reset plenty of tires that have broken them though. Always a fun time.

Sponsored