Assignment 4 - Anna Baskin

Moving into a gifted magnet school is difficult. Once a big fish in a little pond, suddenly you’re a big fish in a pond full of other big fish with sharp teeth who may or may not be trying to eat you. Students fought tooth and nail for the best test score in the class, or the highest grade average, or the most advanced classes, and I quickly realized that even when I got a high score, someone always scored higher. When I made a good grade, someone else’s grade was better. And when I choose an advanced class, there was always someone ahead of me. I couldn’t win.

Early on, I believed that your test scores and grades determined your intelligence, because that’s what those around me believed. It took months – maybe even years – to look past that belief. Finally, one day, after the teacher returned our math tests, I looked at my friends with lower grades and thought, “Are these people dumber because they got lower test grades?” I immediately rejected the thought. A few missed questions doesn’t make someone dumber! The idea was beyond pretentious. But then, I looked at those with higher grades and forced myself to think, “Are these people smarter because they got higher test scores?” The logical conclusion: No, they weren’t.

Throwing away the belief that test scores alone measure intelligence was liberating. Finally, I understood there are a million different ways to be smart. One boy may be able to solve for the derivative of a trigonometric equation in his head, but sit staring at a blank paper for hours trying to respond to a creative writing prompt. Another boy may struggle with writing geometry proofs, but reads Shakespeare in his spare time for fun. Yet another girl may be incapable of memorizing the order of the presidents, but is a master at communicating ideas and designing presentations. There are a million ways to be smart, and very few of them include test scores.