4 ms·

I think one can't say to himself he is brilliant, this is so dangerous. My father tells me how much surprised it is when he sees back their school mates,now th

I think one can't say to himself he is brilliant, this is so dangerous. My father tells me how much surprised it is when he sees back their school mates,now that he is retired, they expected the brilliant people in class to success. This is what really happened: The brilliant people(3 hipersmart guys) took a normal job and lived a normal live. People that had enormous problems in school, became presidents of big companies, made their own restaurants chains,got political power, became famous as scientific researchers... Wow: Nobody would have expected that!! I think those brilliant people were very good at learning and memorizing when the answer is known, but not so good facing risk and failure, fighting against unknown. PS: There was a time I got 10 over 10 score in some exams like math when a lot of people didn't pass. I felt great(and superior) about being considered intelligent, but at the same I felt frightened about losing my position, so I stooped asking stupid questions (what would they think about me). Later I discovered I love asking stupid questions, and I love testing new things, often it goes bad, so I felt liberated making enough grades and not being ultrasmart, but feeling this stupid man can kick some smart asses if I work hard.

skinnymuch 17y ago
"People that had enormous problems in school, became presidents of big companies, made their own restaurants chains,got political power, became famous as scientific researchers..." I doubt this very much.
- xcombinator 17y ago
  Well, maybe it sounds like when I say "had enormous problems" that they didn't pass courses, or were stupid, they passed(with great pain through) and they were not, but I'm talking about boarding school with military discipline(and physical punishments) in Europe. I think is difficult to understand this, specially for american people. The fact that some people don't quite understand is that making a successful restaurant or company is as difficult or more difficult that study and fill an exam.
  - skinnymuch 17y ago
    Americans understand your last line. In America, money is far more important to the vast majority of people than education. I'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons Euros use to feel above Americans. Education starts becoming important to how people perceive you when you're near upper middle class or above. And even then your success is more important. When you say all these people have done all those successful things, are you talking about the entire history of your school? I couldn't understand if that is what you were talking about or if you were saying all those accomplishments happened with people who were in school as the same time as you (this is what I doubt).
    - xcombinator 17y ago
      No, it was not my schoolmates, it was my father's ones, as I wrote before. Yeah, american people are different to european, here and in asia education (and specially memorization) is very important. Some american people will find it difficult to understand that in Spain you could get to be public worker(and can't be fired) just making an exam.

skinnymuch 17y ago

"People that had enormous problems in school, became presidents of big companies, made their own restaurants chains,got political power, became famous as scientific researchers..." I doubt this very much.

xcombinator 17y ago
Well, maybe it sounds like when I say "had enormous problems" that they didn't pass courses, or were stupid, they passed(with great pain through) and they were not, but I'm talking about boarding school with military discipline(and physical punishments) in Europe. I think is difficult to understand this, specially for american people. The fact that some people don't quite understand is that making a successful restaurant or company is as difficult or more difficult that study and fill an exam.
- skinnymuch 17y ago
  Americans understand your last line. In America, money is far more important to the vast majority of people than education. I'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons Euros use to feel above Americans. Education starts becoming important to how people perceive you when you're near upper middle class or above. And even then your success is more important. When you say all these people have done all those successful things, are you talking about the entire history of your school? I couldn't understand if that is what you were talking about or if you were saying all those accomplishments happened with people who were in school as the same time as you (this is what I doubt).
  - xcombinator 17y ago
    No, it was not my schoolmates, it was my father's ones, as I wrote before. Yeah, american people are different to european, here and in asia education (and specially memorization) is very important. Some american people will find it difficult to understand that in Spain you could get to be public worker(and can't be fired) just making an exam.