I can confirm the author's experience but from the opposite perspective. In third grade I was diagnosed with ADD. At that time the school didn't know what to do with that, so I was segregated into an "educationally handicapped" class only available at another school across town. So, I had to ride the proverbial "short bus" (for the handicapped kids) and did the rest of elementary school in a "special" classroom in a temporary building isolated on its own from the "normal" classrooms. The other kids in my class had far more severe problems than mine, often both physically and emotionally. The class size was smaller but the teacher had to spend much of her time dealing with challenging issues.
Basically, unlike the author, who was told she was so smart, I was given every overt and covert signal that I was handicapped, both at school and at home. I was "mainstreamed" in middle school but was assigned to go to another "special" classroom for all core subjects. Again, this was the only different classroom on campus. It had double wide doors and actually had a small adjacent observing room with a two way mirror in-between. My fellow students were often so disruptive and required attention from the teacher that I was allowed to spend most classes alone in the "observing closet" reading. It was dark and pretty quiet. Some of my best memories of school actually.
When I was in 8th grade, every 8th grader in the state had to take the same standardized test. It was basically like a middle school SAT. I remember a few weeks after taking the test, the principle of the school came to my special classroom and told me I needed to retake that test, this time in his office while he watched. A week after that I was suddenly re-assigned from that "special" classroom to now take my core subjects not just in the normal classes but in "accelerated" classes for mentally gifted kids.
Obviously, I was simply not neuro-typical. I still struggled mightily with some subjects in school while succeeding wildly in others. My grades were 'A's and 'D's with little in-between. I dropped out of college because I just couldn't get past some required classes. I taught myself computer programming, got deep into technology, got involved very early in a startup, then founded my own startup, then another, then another. Took one to IPO, two others to acquisitions. Stayed with a Fortune 500 acquirer as an executive and eventually ascended to the C-level. Now I'm well-known in my industry and considered a substantial "success" by most standards. I manage armies of incredibly sharp ivy league MBAs and Phds yet have no degree myself (and not for cool Zuckerberg reasons like dropping out of Havard). My Mom still says stuff like "Out of all my kids... well, we thought we'd be caring for you when you grew up and now you're caring for the whole family."
Bottom line, many people see my schooling experience as tragic, and it was truly awful in many ways, but I've always attributed my entrepreneurial drive and much of my success to the perverse experience of being told and treated as if I was handicapped. I worked harder because everyone told me that I'd always have to work harder and nothing would come easy for me. I didn't give up when I failed because I mostly expected to fail.
Basically, unlike the author, who was told she was so smart, I was given every overt and covert signal that I was handicapped, both at school and at home. I was "mainstreamed" in middle school but was assigned to go to another "special" classroom for all core subjects. Again, this was the only different classroom on campus. It had double wide doors and actually had a small adjacent observing room with a two way mirror in-between. My fellow students were often so disruptive and required attention from the teacher that I was allowed to spend most classes alone in the "observing closet" reading. It was dark and pretty quiet. Some of my best memories of school actually.
When I was in 8th grade, every 8th grader in the state had to take the same standardized test. It was basically like a middle school SAT. I remember a few weeks after taking the test, the principle of the school came to my special classroom and told me I needed to retake that test, this time in his office while he watched. A week after that I was suddenly re-assigned from that "special" classroom to now take my core subjects not just in the normal classes but in "accelerated" classes for mentally gifted kids.
Obviously, I was simply not neuro-typical. I still struggled mightily with some subjects in school while succeeding wildly in others. My grades were 'A's and 'D's with little in-between. I dropped out of college because I just couldn't get past some required classes. I taught myself computer programming, got deep into technology, got involved very early in a startup, then founded my own startup, then another, then another. Took one to IPO, two others to acquisitions. Stayed with a Fortune 500 acquirer as an executive and eventually ascended to the C-level. Now I'm well-known in my industry and considered a substantial "success" by most standards. I manage armies of incredibly sharp ivy league MBAs and Phds yet have no degree myself (and not for cool Zuckerberg reasons like dropping out of Havard). My Mom still says stuff like "Out of all my kids... well, we thought we'd be caring for you when you grew up and now you're caring for the whole family."
Bottom line, many people see my schooling experience as tragic, and it was truly awful in many ways, but I've always attributed my entrepreneurial drive and much of my success to the perverse experience of being told and treated as if I was handicapped. I worked harder because everyone told me that I'd always have to work harder and nothing would come easy for me. I didn't give up when I failed because I mostly expected to fail.