Why are some children are pushed to learn whereas others can achieve the same results naturally?

Chuckle. I had a guy like that in my fraternity (he’s a MD/PhD researcher specializing in disabled kids). He took something like the following in one semester:

  • two upper-level economics classes
  • two bioengineering classes (Note: he wasn't in the engineering school so this is particularly unusual)
  • fourth semester calculus
  • graduate-level probability/statistics
  • organic chemistry with lab

7 1/2 course units in one semester and his lowest grade was an A- in orgo. Probably not that much reading but a pile of problem sets combined with orgo’s cutthroat grind. Later, he blew his MCATs out of the water with a (pre-1992) score equivalent to a 42 today.