Sigh... This thread makes me sad- I feel the urge to weep for a present made impossible by the past...
For once, I'm utterly speechless.
Several moments pass. He types and backspaces, thinks and erases...
Suddenly, he has a memory and stops thinking in third person.
I remember going to the first grade for all of a few days at the age of six. I hated it, I thought I was in pre-school. The teacher didn't want me to do more work than was assigned, even though I could handle it with ease. Once, they had a fourth grader come in to read a book to us. She stumbled over half the words. What's funny? I could read the same book smooth as olive oil.
You know, I'm not composed at the moment. This thread has totally derailed my thoughts, so excuse me for babbling idiotically, it's just that my conscious mind is busy trying to pick up all the ideas that spilled out of the train... And reading them aloud.
So anyway, I left school. I was a first grade dropout.
Actually, I went back to homeschooling, and wound up reading at a college level around age ten. I'm not sure what's sadder- the fact that I could read so well, or the fact that there was probably so much more that these kids could be doing. I mean sure, some considered me to be a "gifted" kid- what was I truly capable of back then? I have no idea.
But what are these children capable of, eh? I suppose it's an understatement to say that they're not living up to their potential.
You know, I'm a member of a writing club that meets in my library. The kids there can be quite loud (specifically the younger ones), but you know what? When it comes to writing, they put forth real effort. They apply themselves because they're interested. They read and write well, certainly better than most of their contemporaries. It's not that children today are incapable of performing- it's just that they won't. They're not given any real incentive, and teachers? Most teachers aren't given any incentive to really teach anything. Their job is to simply parrot the words in the books and convince the next generation to keep calm, to carry on down the path to decay.
I'm grateful I have parents who drive me to live up to and past my potential.
...Did I just type all that? Goodness.
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