Would you call a student who gets perfect test scores but bad homework scores a genius? Is it possible that he did study a lot behind-the-scenes while telling everyone in public that he doesn’t study? I’ve met an individual like this in high school, and he now owns some useless car customization (like in the GTA games where you decorate your car) company in the city where he went to high school. He didn’t even go to a top 20 university in the US either. We shared this one AP Chemistry teacher in 11th grade, and this teacher said that this student was the best he ever had but he didn’t even come close to beating me in GPA and SAT score and awards. I was very salty that I wasn’t seen as the best student, but what can I do when I was/am too stupid to speak up in class to answer questions. I was afraid of being wrong. He was the only person in the class who got a 5 on the AP exam and I pretty much disappointed the AP Chemistry teacher because he saw me as another smart student.
I researched more about these “perfect testers but bad homework scores” people, and they’re typically the ones the teachers found extremely intelligent compared to the rest of the students.
I found this post on a thread from 2013 here with this reply. This is an example of the kind of student I’m concerned about.
"There’s this boy in a few of my classes who is absolutely, positively brilliant. He can speak and write intelligently about anything from Particle Physics to neo-conservatism. He is honestly one of the smartest people I’ve ever met - however, he’s lazy. He’s not a big fan of homework. In AP World, he’d get 100’s on every test but half credit on all of his homework. This year, all of his notes are poorly BS’ed in classes like Gov and Lit, but his writing and analysis is brilliant.
If he put in maybe 30% more effort, he’d be valedictorian, but now he’s stuck in the ranking of 30/500 (which by NO means is bad at all, but he’s hands down smarter than everyone else, so its rather unfortunate). His sheer intellect guaranteed him a 3.6. Hard work would guarantee him a 4.0."
Usually interpreted as lacking work ethic but smart. However, every individual situation is different and it is hard to generalize without knowing about family situation, medical issues, learning challenges or other factors that could be in play. Not sure of the reason for this post!
I was pretty lazy too, but I never got perfect test scores without hard work. There have been a lot of times where I work extremely hard for perfect grades but I would always come short.
This comes up again and again. There is nothing unusual about a very intelligent student who is simply lazy. Some kids think they are above doing homework. My son had a very intelligent friend whose personal motto was “if I can’t get the homework done during study hall, I just don’t do it.”
There was only one time where I beat this kid on an AP Chemistry test, but that’s it. I felt that I had mastered the test material. Maybe I could have been the best student had I not slacked off.
Intellectual curiosity, academic aptitude and work ethic are very different and distinct. Having combinations of these attributes is often mutually enhancing but having any one doesn’t guarantee the existence of the other.
But then his grade would suffer. That doesn’t sound like the intelligent thing to do. I would understand if the teacher drops homework grades as stated on the syllabus.
I don’t think this always means laziness. It could be personality. Some kids just don’t want to play the game. They don’t need to do the homework in order to learn the material. They don’t care about gpa or class rank and don’t want to participate in activities that (for them) aren’t meaningful, so they just don’t. Each to his own.
You asked if a student who gets perfect test scores but not perfect homework scores is a genius. Maybe, maybe not. My son’s friend is lazy but smart. He aced his tests which helped compensate for his lower homework grades. He didn’t care if he got straight A’s. Not everyone cares about grades. Surely you are aware that not all geniuses want to go to college? A genius might be working at Burger King, or living in an Amazonian tribe. A genius is born, I would argue. (No doubt someone will argue back, lol.)
I agree with @Catcherinthetoast . Work ethic and intelligence are not the same thing. A great work ethic can certainly enhance intelligence though.
In my opinion he is a genius if he is passionate about customizing cars and has found a way to spend his professional life owning his own business doing something he loves.
The pursuit of happiness and success aren’t necessarily benchmarked in a universal way that allows for one person to superimpose their values upon another.
I suspect this individual isn’t wasting their time off on some car enthusiast website bemoaning your academic ambition but instead is likely living their life doing what they enjoy.
Why can’t a genius own a car customization company? Why does a genius have to go to college?
My next door neighbor (passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 94) was clearly incredibly intelligent and I doubt he graduated high school. He trapped muskrats and sold the pelts to earn money during the Depression. He was an amazing plumber, electrician, and organic gardener. He was a vegetarian decades before it was fashionable. He served during WW2, built his own home, made his own whole house generator, and built incredible wood furniture from scratch. There is no way he wasn’t a genius.
He was out there mowing his own lawn on his homemade ride-on mower when he was 93 years old. I doubt his life would have been much better if he had gone to college.
Honestly he sounds a bit like my husband and sons to some extent. I graduated high school with my husband, known him since we were 12 and had some classes with him. My husband has wife diagnosed adhd, my older son has been medicated since age 12, my younger son has a neuro psych evaluation on the calendar. My husband applied to one college right before the deadline. He’s very bright, so gets away with not putting a lot of effort (he got his MBA from NYU working full time with 3 very young children at home, plus he was in a band that played at least one night a week).