GA IN

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Mummy, Daddy and I attended a talk in my new school. It was scary. They used so many complicated words and such complex sentences, expecting us to understand. They focused on how the situation would be very different from what we were used to.

We were used to getting 95 marks, topping the class and finding homework easy. No more of that. More than 60 marks are already pretty good in gifted. Don’t expect to top the class any longer, however, not topping the class doesn’t mean that one isn’t intelligent. Homework is likely to be much more difficult, we are likely to be stretched and challenged. Our own expectations and expectations of parents need to be adjusted significantly.

The fact that we’re at this talk means that we are the crème of the crème. They emphasized this a great deal. This came as a shock. All along, I believed that I was just above average, and I knew people who weren’t very smart. The thought that I was intelligent—very intelligent—never even crossed my mind.

They said they were going to give us much more freedom than we were used to, leaving many more things up to our discretion. They weren’t going to force us to drill and memorise, but it didn’t mean that we could be lazy. We still needed tow work hard. Apparently as long as we don’t slack off, and continue to adopt a good attitude towards learning, we’ll come out just fine. Even without the insane practice and memory work. Even while sleeping at humane times.

 If they said that it was going to be a huge upheaval, I’m going to believe them. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this. It was comforting that they repeatedly assured that if the attrition rate for the gifted programme wasn’t very high, and most students could cope. However, if we really desired to return back to mainstream education, we could always do so. Again, after being exposed to this new world, I don’t know if I could go back. Would I even want to go back?

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Normally, I look forward to self study ending, because there isn’t much to do there anyway. Today though, it’s different. Because the moment I walk out of the classroom today, I’m leaving what I know for something completely new. No matter what happens, I don’