I was just having this conversation with my mother about how everyone thinks they understand education because they went to school. Turns out? Being a student isn't the same as being a teacher.

Can you blow this up to a big giant banner and put it up in ever school in the US?

Cause I had to go to school to learn about cognition and pedagogy to become a teacher. And I'm good at what I do and I do challenge my higher level kids and pull the other kids along. I've never had a child or parent say that my class was too easy.

But I do have people all the time (mainly administrators) who act like they are pros at teaching because they had 13 years of k-12 experience. hint to parents: never start a conference with "When I was a kid...."

Moreover, smart and competent don't necessarily intersect either. Smart is pretty useless without competence.

Smart is pretty useless without competence.

Oh, but there are many kinds of competence, too. Along with the many kinds of smart.

Absolutely, couldn't agree more. I'm thinking especially about people who are designated gifted and who never learn how to do school. And they end up not being able to do life very well either (socially or in a job). But they've got their mensa membership; they get to go to meetings to bemoan how the world is doing them wrong and how smart they really are and the rest of humanity can't see it because they are too stupid.

A couple years back there was that idiot Mensa member who killed someone and bragged about it....

Of course, this means I will have to find a new source that much sooner.

I think I need a pimp toaster.

I don't think I was a bright kid, per se. I was just really good at a subset of subjects. I wonder if that kid was just good at everything? I think that's why I stopped skipping grades -- my math might have been ready for it, but my history never was going to be. Of course, the idea of having the subjects you like bore you because you're ahead and the subjects you hate bore you because -- well, you hate them, don't you? Still not fun. But I was well within tolerance for good teachers to compensate, and the bad teachers -- well, who hasn't had one? Or three? You don't have to be bright to suffer. It's probably worse if you're not.

I think I had a point, but mostly I'm tired.

Right! I have had a co-worker (or two, now that I think about it) who's all "Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay." and don't ever write anything down. They don't ever fucking get it. It's like a nervous tick, and they'll be back at your desk asking for the same info over again, or worse yet, plowing ahead with their half-assed understanding.

Much like school, I get the tech stuff and the abstract concepts at work pretty quickly. It's the actual line-of-business stuff that makes me feel like a moron, because I need to either take notes or hear it more than once. So I do take notes. Copious notes. And now, when it's tech stuff, I try and take notes too, simply because it keeps me awake during the boring bits. Which, when repetition is involved is ... all the repetition. At least that way I catch when the topic shifts to something new -- when I draw, not only does it attract attention, but I can drift away.

I have had a co-worker (or two, now that I think about it) who's all "Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay." and don't ever write anything down. They don't ever fucking get it. It's like a nervous tick, and they'll be back at your desk asking for the same info over again, or worse yet, plowing ahead with their half-assed understanding.

Damn them! They're the reason potential employers don't trust me! Damn them!

t drops to knees

KHAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!

KLINGON BASTARDS! KILLED MY SON!

They're the reason potential employers don't trust me!

Sad to say, I'd rather risk losing a you, than hiring one of them. When you have to look an adult in the face and ask "Do you really get that, or are you just saying it?" more than once a day, it's insane making.

I worked with someone who did that. Said "okay, okay" and then screwed up instructions. So annoying. Of course, I never write anything down myself, so I am doing my part to annoy others.