I Had No Idea My Child Was This Exceptional

I about had a heart attack when I received a notice in my son’s backpack declaring that, because he tested so highly on his CRT’s (not sure what that stands for exactly), he is eligible for the Gifted and Exceptional Student Program.  Bear in mind that this notice was marked “Third and Final Notification”, which means that my son’s backpack ate the last two notices, and that the paper was wrapped around a dirty sock that he was carrying around in his bag.

This is the same child that got worked up about doing a Science Fair project last year.  He was so excited that I honestly believed that some fabulous teacher had finally sparked an interest where one didn’t exist previously, and so I rushed out and bought stick on letters, poster-board and other stuff totaling $35 earmarked for “higher education.”  We worked on the project for a couple of nights before my husband casually asked his son why he was so excited about doing the Science Fair this year.  Our son beamed from ear to ear and said, “Because my teacher promised us a 2-litre bottle of any soda we want if we enter the Science Fair.”  My husband laughed and said, “I’ll buy you any soda you want, you don’t need your teacher to buy it for you.”  Needless to say, we didn’t enter a project that year because his interest evaporated faster than a bottle of Root-beer.

But if the school thinks he’s exceptional, then who am I to disagree?  The questionnaire simply asked me to site specific examples of times when my son showed an unusual affinity or enthusiasm for an academic project that was unusual for his age.  It gave examples such as, “has your child gotten so involved with a project that he gives up other pleasures in order to work on it?”  Unless you count the time that he sat through the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy without so much as a bathroom break, I couldn’t think of an example.  As a matter of a fact, I couldn’t come up with any examples for any of the questions asked.  The bottom line is that my kid isn’t gifted.  He’s just a typical kid with a strong competitive streak.  If you turn it into a competition, then he wants to win—and tests are just competitions.

I thought about lying to the school.   I daydreamed about hanging out with the other football moms and casually mentioning a few thousand times that, not only did my son just make that amazing tackle, but he’s also an exceptionally gifted student.  I’ve never had anything to brag about in the circle of moms before.  They brag and I’m generally left to tell some ridiculous story about how I ended up in the emergency room after my brilliant offspring engaged in a “rock fight” and had to have $695 worth of stitches.  

I almost did it.  I almost made up a few phenomenal stories, but I just couldn’t do it.  We are boringly normal.  I don’t need CRT tests to tell me that.