Intelligent Slacker

Vox Day's take on a Scientific American article about raising smart kids is worth reading.

I have been trained to be risk averse. It's just that simple: don't put anything out there and no one will see your mistakes! Tests are easy- the classroom environment is simply not a challenge. The real challenge is taking a project to fruition- getting to the finished product stage. I put out a lot of ideas, but it's tough taking any one of them and making it real.

And, of course, that's what got me the most ridicule as a child. If you try to do something out of the norm for your peers, the other children will certainly take you down, and often parents and teachers react negatively too. So, instead of becoming a creator, I became an absorber. I've taken tons of information in, but I haven't put very much out. In fact, I tended to discount what I know, assuming others know it too.

I've got an inkling about how wrong I was, and it just sends shivers down my spine.