<p>I read a story once where people were like onions - if you peeled away the outer layer of your 11-year-old self you'd find the 10-year old you, and the 9-year-old...</p>
<p>How well have you maintained the memory of your former self? Can you still remember how you talked, thought, acted when you were eight? What about when you were thirteen?</p>
<p>If so, how were you like back then?</p>
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<p>At 13 I was very into politics. Extremely liberal, too. I remember making phone calls for Dennis Kucinich on my 13th birthday and my dad yelled at me because he was afraid I was getting put on a no-fly list. I was also very concerned with who liked me and whether I looked smart on the Internet. I'm glad all my posts got deleted after 30 days because I made myself look like a real idiot. In the second half of my thirteenth year I wised up and focused on physics instead. And boy, did I kick butt at that.</p>
<p>At 8 - well, I blocked most of that out. But according to psychological evaluations I was pretty disturbed and felt like a "lifeless statue." See, they did this research project on me where they stuck me in eighth-grade classes to bolster my parents' egos. And of course I failed miserably and didn't have any friends until middle school. Also, I was a real ass - pulled fire alarms, crawled on the grass, ran around annoying people...but of course I thought I was the best person ever and everyone else was unworthy. Something to do with constantly being told I was a genius.</p>
<p>At 10, I didn’t know what the definition of humility was. I thought you just said your mind and that was that. And, to make it worse, when I told my parents I wasn’t allowed to say (for example) “My painting is really good” because someone at school told me it was mean to say that, my mother thought I was being teased. So she told me to be proud and to go to school and say my mind. Unfortunately, it turned me into a terrible braggart about my intelligence and a totally vain person. That was a pretty bad mistake.</p>
<p>At 13, I wisened up. I started making friends, realizing what I should say and what I shouldn’t. Became pretty popular at that time, guys started liking me and I was pretty happy. I also became pretty vocal and bounced around in my group. Also started recognizing social skills here.</p>
<p>At 17, I’m apparently considered one of the nicest girls in my class and also one of the smartest. My personality has calmed down a bit and I like observing more than talking now. Definitely not vain anymore and I’m glad I recognized and switched that around in time before I lost all my friends. Very content with my personality now and fully developed my leadership skills into productive efforts and stuff. :]</p>
<p>At 8 I must have been an annoying cry baby. I’m not really sure. I blocked out a lot of my childhood. I remember more from 5 and under than I do from and up until around 9. If I’m anything like I am now, my mother must have wanted to kill me. I thought I was the most amazing thing. Too many years of being told “you’re just so talented”. I’d sing and dance. I did think I sucked at sports (which is true) although for some reason I really wanted to play basketball and baseball.</p>
<p>At 11 I was alright. I was beginning to wise up a little bit. Moving across the country was interesting. Going from all snow to a farming hick town. I was a bit of a class clown, but at home I mainly kept to myself. I’d perfer to be with my aunt and uncle than my mother. I think that was the first time suicide sounded slightly appealing. (Never attempted though, thank goodness.)</p>
<p>At 13, ya, that was one of the hardest years of my life. I was going through crap, but I think I was alright. Short tempered, but I think I had a right at the time. I was in basketball and band which consumed a lot of time, so it worked. Hiding in my coach’s room and my sixth grade teacher’s room were what I did the most though. </p>
<p>Now, I think I’m alright. Maybe a bit to egotistical and arrogant for my own good, but I’m also really passionate. I guess I’m considered one of the smarter kids in my grade. I’m not too popular, and my classmates don’t understand my thought processes, but I have some amazing friends that totally get me, so it’s worth it. I’ve realized I love writing and playing my tuba. lol I guess I’m a huge nerd now.</p>
<p>Ya, my aunt (who didn’t know me as a child), is convinced I wasn’t a brat, but I know I was. </p>
<p>I really think it has to do with our personalities though. We grow being told “oh little tommy or little sarah, or little beth, you’re so smart! You’re so wonderful!” and you begin believing you actually have more rights than someone else. But you also learn if you fight hard enough for something people have to give it to you, so we all whine and plea until we got what we want. It’s a survival mechanism, that kind of carries through childhood into teenage years.</p>
<p>Does that make sense or did I post incorherently?</p>
<p>makes sense. plus we’re all smart so we can outdebate adults :)</p>
<p>“why should I be quiet in class? what about the first amendment? haven’t you always told us to stand up for our rights? what if abe lincoln had just kept quiet?”</p>
<p>^ I love that argument. I’ve used it, but I insert Abe Lincoln for people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks (when my actions offend teachers). </p>
<p>I just hate all the mindless hoops we have to jump through as teenagers and back in our childhoods. Now instead of just making us jump through hoops they’ve decided to set the hoops on fire and tell us not to catch ourselves in the flame.</p>
<p>I really think it has to do with our personalities though. We grow being told “oh little tommy or little sarah, or little beth, you’re so smart! You’re so wonderful!” and you begin believing you actually have more rights than someone else. But you also learn if you fight hard enough for something people have to give it to you, so we all whine and plea until we got what we want. It’s a survival mechanism, that kind of carries through childhood into teenage years.</p>
<p>Umm… no. I’ve never been praised for my intelligence in my family. My parents value integrity, selflessness and kindness over everything else. They’re happy that I get good grades, but they don’t care that much at all. They’re more proud of me that I’m neither spoiled nor mean.</p>
<p>And I hate people at my school who whine and complain. They’re so disrespectful to their teachers and are (undeservedly) arrogant.</p>
<p>^ I wasn’t meaning everyone on here, but many. I do realize that there are quite a few exceptions. That’s just what I’ve noticed around some of my peers and some, if not many, of the people on here.</p>
<p>My parents praised me, as did the school, and I don’t believe its all the school’s or my mother’s fault, but I do think it had a slight role in my behaviour. Not amazingly huge, but still a roll. I was a jerk. I thought I was better than others. A bit of an elitist I was. </p>
<p>That’s partly why I don’t totally agree with the GT/Gate/whatever you call it programs in elementary school. How I was taught in GT is how almost all students should be taught. If almost everyone was taught the same strategies and the same things and nearly the same pace we’d, in my oppinion, have a stronger educational system. </p>
<p>I also hate it when kids whine. What bugs me the most is the honors students who complain about too much homework. “Oh, my bio teacher AND my history teacher gave us a huge project due on the same week.” My thought is, you chose to take those classes. It’s part of the course description at my school. </p>
<p>I’m personally working on being less arogant, because others’ arrogance also bugs me.</p>
<p>I’d like to check some of the sources when I’m more awake, but that was a good article. It makes some poignant points. </p>
<p>I really do hate the educational system. I’m writing a ten page paper on it for English soon. (We had to choose a controversial topic we’re passionate on and that won.) </p>
<p>I think there needs to be somewhat drastic changes.</p>
<p>My 8-year-old self? Very introverted, academically inclined, fat, insecure, absolutely miserable with academics as my escape. </p>
<p>At 13 my past was behind me and all I cared about was changing myself for the better. I took a lot of chances and worked my ass off to be somebody. </p>
<p>Now I’m a strong student who impresses most people I work with. I’m incredibly competitive, I take any opportunity presented to me, and my body’s not even reminiscent of it’s former hideous self.</p>
<p>I know I’m somewhat arrogant, and this completely destroys the theory that you are who you used to be underneath.</p>
<p>In sixth grade I was a satinist who showered once a week. In seventh grade I started showering daily and I became a lot more extroverted. In eighth grade I was the class clown. In ninth grade I made a lot more friends. In tenth grade I skipped school (so I could hang out with my friends before I moved). In eleventh grade I was bitter and disgustingly arrogant. Now, in twelfth grade, I listen to classical (as opposed to rap in those past years), became addicted to musicals, I dress A LOT nicer, my arrogance has decreased a bit, and I always complain about people’s poor etiquette. Walk on the damn right side of the sidewalk and no more than two abreast!!!</p>
<p>the whole thing about the gifted programs praising you and creating arrogance…i don’t feel that mine did that. actually, my teacher started every year by asking us if we knew why we were in there. then she would tell us “you’re not in here because you are smart, you are in here because you learn faster.” lol. so most of us went into it with that attitude and didn’t let ourselves become very elitist. though it did create something for me where if i could not do something and others could, i would feel bad. i would get mad at myself for not being able to do something if i was supposed to be able to learn it faster. i think i left music class crying once because i got a question wrong…yeah, i was slightly obsessed with doing my absolute best, and at that time it meant doing everything right. so basically, it didn’t give me arrogance, but it gave me the feeling that i had to live up to a lot of expectations. i hope that all made sense, it’s late at night haha.</p>
<p>haha actually keshira that is sometimes true. with some classes i have taken i feel like i don’t even deserve to be in there. it works to your advantage though, because you work harder and, therefore, do better.</p>
<p>Keshira, you are correct. I’ve been going to a public gifted school since 6th grade. You go in there thinking you’re pretty intelligent… and then you take classes with people that make your mind explode.</p>
<p>Though, everyone at my school procrastinates like no other.</p>