I was also a gifted kid and I think it’s complicated bc not everyone had equal access to those opportunities - I see it more of something I’m grateful for than proud of. It’s easy to test into those programs as a kid and harder to actualize that potential as an adult. I’m more proud of what I did with the opportunity than the fact that I received it.

24

eh, no disrespect towards you in particular OP, but I think most people tend to reflexively side-eye others who embrace the idea that they as individuals are inherently superior to the majority of the population in some fashion. and I think that reflex makes sense imo that sense of superiority is especially silly in the context of someone who’s already a grown adult yet continues to stake their ego on having been perceived as especially intelligent or academically-advanced in childhood

8

honestly i was in the gifted program until about 3rd grade, when I moved schools, tested, and didn’t get in. all the kids that were in it were nice but acted like it was a club and they were an elite friend group. the teacher that taught it (who also taught another subject to all of us) would call on them, and even call them over during class to his desk by saying “can my gifted group come up?” and they’d just whisper and laugh at who knows what. literally nothing against those gifted kids—

6

The issue is tying your self-worth to your academic performance. “Gifted” is a misnomer because having an easier time with academic work is no more a “gift” than someone else finding baseball, music, drawing, singing, woodworking, etc. It’s just something you/I happen to be good at. It doesn’t make us better, and no one should think it does.

3

As a “gifted kid” who skipped two grades, my self esteem is shit because I feel like I could’ve skipped three. Even if, by an objective metric, you’re gifted, some of us just don’t know how to be good at things, so the standards just get higher and higher until, naturally, you slip, then it feels like the world is crumbling down

1