# When did you realize, vis-a-vis other kids, that you were "smart"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-realize-vis-a-vis-other-kids-that-you-were-smart/438203 "2008-02-19T02:46:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-realize-vis-a-vis-other-kids-that-you-were-smart/438203/121 "2008-02-25T21:58:21Z")
[QUOTE=Cosmic Relief] Sounds like you should start an “I know martial arts and I could kick your ass if I wanted to, buddy” thread. [/QUOTE] I’ll get right on that. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-realize-vis-a-vis-other-kids-that-you-were-smart/438203/122 "2008-02-25T22:07:28Z")
[QUOTE=sturmhauke] I’ll get right on that. [/QUOTE] Cool. But use a better title. I would suggest “When did you realize, vis-a-vis other kids, that you could kick their ass?” ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-realize-vis-a-vis-other-kids-that-you-were-smart/438203/123 "2008-02-26T07:06:25Z")
I think it was after I did a flying roundhouse kick by accident, and found some bloody teeth in my shoe treads the next morning. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-realize-vis-a-vis-other-kids-that-you-were-smart/438203/124 "2008-02-27T00:20:34Z")
I don’t remember, but it must have been pretty early. I was reading by my second birthday and writing by my third. By five I was drawing fairly realistically. (That’s how my _mom_ learned I was smart; when the other parents at a kindergarten parent-teacher thing were all standing around marvelling at the self-portrait I’d made, which stood out from the simple smiley-faces the other kids had drawn). I certainly knew I was smart by the time I went to school; I was far ahead of the other kids. I was in the gifted program until the sixth grade, when I failed a class due to inability to memorize. (I _never_ could memorize, but you can get pretty far by extrapolating from first principles all the time. The times tables were tough, though. What’s 6\*7 again?) College did in my intellect. Some classes I did well in, some I didn’t, based mostly on memorization requirements. Calculus _killed_ me, with all the memorization it was taught to me with. Also, as college went on, I could _feel_ the creativity and brilliance being drained out of me. I lost the ability to draw, the ability to write creatively, and the ability to to basic arithmetic. By the end of my time at college, I was no longer smart, having been reduced to merely smart\*-assed\*. I have never recovered; I’m still only a little above average, with at most occasional moments of cleverness. Suffice to say, I am _far_ from the most intelligent person on this board, now. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-realize-vis-a-vis-other-kids-that-you-were-smart/438203/125 "2008-02-28T15:17:24Z")
[QUOTE=Cosmic Relief] Sounds like you should start an “I know martial arts and I could kick your ass if I wanted to, buddy” thread. [/QUOTE] I was thinking of that McBain movie from The Simpsons - Undercover Nerd. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-realize-vis-a-vis-other-kids-that-you-were-smart/438203.md?page=6)