Do you know a genius? Is he/she "tortured" or content? Suffering or enjoying life?

I'm happy to hear that bh. I hope the other kids don't become abusive to her though. She will be thought "different" and sometimes that threatens other kids. Thank you for your reply and Happy Friday! :)

Something else we have in common Ele. Though my son has always been calm and had tons of friends and excelled in sports. I always thought he was very well-rounded. He was a jock and a brain and was happy in both environments. The only time I was a little worried about him was when he was in the 4th grade. Rich used to take classes after school for the MGM (mentally gifted minors) and he was taking some kind of computer programming class believe it or not! He brought home a note from his 4th grade teacher asking me to come see him which I did. He said Rich was slacking off in class and not raising his hand or participating as he had been doing. He asked if he could take us to lunch on a Saturday! Of course I agreed. His name was Mr. Olds and he played guitar and Rich really liked him. So we went to lunch and very casually Mr. Olds brought up the topic of "other kids". Rich said he just was tired of being called "computer brain" by the other kids. He wanted to fit in and be just like them. So Mr. Olds told Rich about his childhood and what he had experienced from other kids because he was "different". After that Rich bounced right back to his real self and as far as I know was never again bothered by being "different". I shall never forget the kindness that teacher showed to him taking his own time in a casual setting to make the points he did. One of the reasons I LOVE TEACHERS! They are kind and they care about their kids. I hope the counselor can help your son through to the other side and that he will realize that his being "different' is not his problem. It's a problem for those who may resent him for it. We know kids can be cruel.  They don't know any better. Adults, on the other hand SHOULD KNOW BETTER. As a side note my son is Chair of the Information and Computer Sciences Department at a University. I think I may have told you that before. SIGH. I just wish all people would be a little bit kinder to one another.  Thank you for your reply and Happy Friday. This post was edited by RosieG at October 5, 2018 7:21 AM MDT

My son's major problem is fear of failure. The first time he failed was when he was in college, his G/F dumped him. His first marriage failed, he was asked to resign from two HS teaching jobs for failing too many students and he failed his internship that we have in our public school system. All of these things really kicked his a**.

Oh my gosh Ele. Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry your child  has had to experience all of those things. My son's first marriage failed but it was a mutual decision to end it and they ended it on fairly friendly terms. About tracking his fail/pass methods is that a common thing? Is there a quota or a percentage or a limit you must NOT exceed? Maybe his students were totally slacking off and trying to get by on as little as possible and he wouldn't let them. I'm just sayin' maybe he was trying to get them to work to their potential and how can you fault a teacher for doing that?. About the internship to which you allude I'm unfamiliar with what that might be. I know my kid was an assistant prof then an associate prof (or is it the other way around?) and now he is fully tenured and has been for a few years. I also know that you have to publish or perish in Universities. It ain't easy to have someone always breathing down your neck evaluating you who has the power to stop you. That would crush anyone.  Is he finding any help in the counseling? Thank you for the additional information. I'm sending him good vibes. What could it hurt?

One of the schools was a school for the arts. The students don't go there to learn science, but must attend class anyway. Parents complained that he was failing their children. The school asked him to leave. The same happened at an all boys Catholic school. He was given the bottom of the barrel jocks for students and they ran all over him. Our internship program, the first one in the country was started by our union many years ago. Each new teacher is observed and mentored by another veteran teacher for a full school year, who deems them qualified to teach or not. He didn't pass. Oddly, I did my first year at the same school as an intern AND graduated from the same school in 69. It's an inner city, racially mixed school and he found it tough to maintain classroom discipline.

My long-ago best friend had a genius brother who also died from too much alcohol. I'm glad one of the two you know is happy living his life.   Liking/loving what you do to earn living is essential. I'm so glad he found happiness IN SPITE OF being "different"! Thank you for your reply Nanoose and Happy Friday!  :)

He was clearly not tortured and led a very full productive life. I'm very glad to hear that Rizz. You have his genes. Are you at all involved with physics or any of the sciences? Thank you for your reply! :)

Unfortunately I didn’t inherit his intelligence. My dad and his sister were adopted. 

Oh? No matter. Genius shows up in different folks at different times. Didn't they think Einstein was slow because he didn't talk for a long time? Thank you for your reply! :) This post was edited by RosieG at October 5, 2018 8:19 PM MDT

I think your a genius in your own way.

Thank you, Carbon. 

For what?

For telling me I’m a genius in my own way. 

How about when you were a kid tom? Did the other kids resent you? The only problem my son had of which I'm aware was when he was in the 4th grade. He took MGM classes after school(Mentally Gifted Minors) and his teacher asked me during a conference if he could take us to lunch on a Saturday because Rich had been slacking off in class. So on his own time in a non-school setting he asked Rich how things were going and why he wasn't participating so much? Rich told him the other kids would call him "computer brain" and he was tired of it and wanted to be like them. His teacher had the same experiences when he was a kid and shared them with my son. That snapped him out of it. Prophetically one of the classes Rich took was a computer programming class and he is Chair of the Information and Computer Sciences Department of a University.  Did you ever have any problems with other kids? Thank you for your reply and Happy Friday!  :) This post was edited by RosieG at October 5, 2018 2:31 AM MDT

I was kind of shy and quiet.  When I was in second grade, the upper grade teachers would occasionally call me up to show how easy it was for a second grader to do the work they couldn't do.

I was always acknowledged by my fellow classmates as smart, but I never used it against anyone.

One afternoon, the last class in high school was acting up before the bell rang.  When everyone got up to go home, the teacher said everyone would have to stay until I memorized a poem and recited every other line back to the teacher.

I did it in about 10 minutes---I was a hero after that.

What a nifty story to share! So your singular abilities were used to help the other kids out! Superhero! Wow! It puts you on THEIR team and so they accepted your being different because it benefitted them. Thank you for sharing that bit of your life. It's nice to know that "different" folks aren't always vilified attacked berated beat up! It's nice to know that sometimes they are actually APPRECIATED! :) Thank you for your reply tom and Happy Wednesday! :)

And my answer was tongue in cheek---I couldn't resist.

As for your reply being tongue-in-cheek that's something I am often unable to figure out! I'm basically a serious person (hard to believe ain't it?) so I take things at face value usually. Sometimes someone is OBVIOUSLY joking or teasing and I can't tell so I will often ask "are you teasing me?" I don't know what signals I miss but I seem to be oblivious to them. Once in awhile I do figure it out but mostly I don't.  I must be missing something in my brain that can spot it immediately! SIGH. Oh well. Things could be worse. I'm gonna ask tom. I wonder if others have that same defect?