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Achievement and Intellectual Value: The Oil and Water of ADHD
The two great tastes that don’t seem to taste great together
I graduated high school with a 2.12 GPA. I could not get into a state college after graduation. I spent a year at a community college, hoping to do well enough to be accepted to a state school as a transfer student.
In other number news, I have a 142 IQ. These two numbers do not compute when you put them together.
This probably should have indicated to everyone trying to deal with my “high-ability, low-achieving” self that something was amiss.
High school was a horrific time for me. Not only was I one horribly awkward-looking kid, but I had this whole lack of ability to achieve thing going for me. I am pretty sure my friends and classmates thought I was a total idiot.
My teachers were not shy in calling me out on not doing my work. There seemed to be a culture of shaming kids into doing well in school that happened in the 80s. I also spent a solid amount of time grounded because of my grades. Kinda hard to hide that.
The horrible thing that I wish could be undone for so many of us is that in our most formative years, when our brains are still developing and when we are most impressionable, the main source of our…
