Microstory 252: Perspective Twenty-Seven

This is an experimental Perspectives microstory. The introduction can be found in Microstory 225. More to follow.

My best friend complains about people a lot. Make no mistake, most of the time, he’s in the right. He just also usually forgets that normal people simply cannot keep up with him intellectually. He is, by no means, a genius, but he does have very superior intelligence. He picks up new material extremely quickly, his retention is off the charts, and he tests well. It can be pretty intimidating to be around him. Now I’m no moron--and I doubt he would ever choose to associate with anyone with an IQ under 120--but I struggle in school a little bit more. It hasn’t always been this way. Picture a line graph. One line shows you how difficult the material is, and one line shows you my level of comprehension. When I was a kid, my intelligence was higher than the difficulty level. As I grew older, both lines began to curve up, but right at the end of middle school, they crossed paths. I had one year in ninth grade where everything was perfect, but everything after that has been downhill. I’ve become smarter, but not as fast as I need in order to keep my grades up. Now that I’m in college, the classes just go straight over my head. The things the professors teach seem rational at the time, but then when I try to reapply this knowledge back home, nothing makes sense. I had my IQ tested again, and it was about the same. It’s just that I’ve dug myself a hole, and I can never get out of it. I took education for granted when I was a child. Everything was easy. I don’t remember learning how to read. As far as I know, it’s just something I’ve always been able to do. Multiplication tables? Fine. I didn’t realize until it was too late how much harder life would get. Everything I do is just designed to get me closer to what I really want. And every step is supposed to be easier than the last, but it never is. But I’ve realized what my real problem is. School just isn’t for me. I am fascinated with so many things. I want to know a little bit about pretty much every field, and every topic, but I don’t want to be an expert in any single thing. I’m thinking about quitting school and joining the workforce full time so that I can pick and choose what I want to learn from the internet, and community college classes. I hate being told what I’m supposed to know. I need to be in control.