Believe it or not, I was the smart kid growing up in Galt.
In elementary school, I raised my hand so often the teachers would say, “Does anyone know except for Katy?” I was the girl other students temporarily hated, because I asked the teacher for homework. I did extra homework. I was the first girl in second grade to be invited into the Gifted and Talented Education class. It had about five boys already. The program, GATE, pulls students deemed gifted and talented out of class into a smaller group to do more challenging and activity-driven lessons.
Even when I arrived in GATE, some of the more sporty boys said I didn”t belong there. I”m a girl. I”m not meant to be smart.
A former friend who was in my Girl Scouts troop tormented me for everything I did when we broke into groups in elementary school. I got better grades than her and that wasn”t OK. She turned a number of friends against me.
At some point I realized it wasn”t cool to be smart. Classmates liked me because they could try to copy my homework or when the teacher felt like nobody cared, at least I had the answer. However, kids don”t always invite the know-it-all to play four-square during recess.
I started hiding my high grades and test scores. I was ashamed of being smart.
So what”s wrong with being intelligent? Nothing. I”ve accepted that I like a mental challenge. But for some reason, I still think others won”t.
My acceptance of being smart can be traced in relation to Harry Potter and National Public Radio, both of which, I now enjoy.
When I was a teenager, my mother sat my older brother and me down and read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer”s Stone aloud to us. I was mortified, even though it was just the three of us. I wasn”t 4 – I could read for myself. But I definitely didn”t want to read a kid”s book about wizards. The problem was, I enjoyed the book.
My mom and brother continued to read the series while I abstained. I wanted people to like me in high school.
The truth is I”ve been odd for my entire life. But everyone is odd for some reason or another.
About a year ago, I started reading the Harry Potter books and listening to them on CD.
Both the Harry Potter movies and my cool friend Callie, who reads the books aloud to her boyfriend, helped me to realize it was OK for me to like the series.
NPR went about the same way. My mom used to listen to it and I hated the talking. But about two years ago, a journalism professor recommended we listen to the station to get news. I did and now I”m addicted. A number of conversations with my friends start with me saying, “They had this show on NPR ”
The problem with admitting these truths is that people who enjoy seemingly intelligent entertainment have been made fun of all of their lives for being smart. Even adults slam gamers, bibliophiles and those who enjoy a mental challenge.
It”s OK to be smart. It”s not OK to act on prejudices against smart people.
Lance Kraft, co-owner of the Game Shop in Lakeport, calls it willful ignorance.
“America has a culture of willful ignorance,” Kraft said. “We actually attack people for intelligence. We attack people for liking a challenge, unless it”s physical.”
Kraft thinks it”s a form of bigotry, he said.
I agree.
People who are prejudiced against intelligent people should break out of their clan and hang out with the smart kids. They are actually cool and fun to spend time with.
Smart people should wear their intelligence on their sleeves. More people will accept them than they think.
As my anatomy professor said, “Fifty percent of people aren”t going to like you anyway. So just be who you are. Then your friends will like you for who you truly are.”
Katy Sweeny is a staff reporter for the Record-Bee. She can be reached at kdsweeny@gmail.com or 263-5636, ext. 37.
