Re:Do you also own a cat with a diamond collar? (Score 1)

It was extremely harmful for me, as well. I was in parochial and private schools for elementary schooling, and was able to spend a lot of time working at my own speed. By sixth grade I was scoring post high school level on everything except spelling (heh). Then I ended up in public school, where they completely ignored my actual performance level in favor of my age. I had started school early based on where in the year my birthday falls (and the fact I could already read and write), so I was already "a year ahead" as far as the school was concerned. They flatly refused to allow me to skip any grades or take more advanced classes, no matter what level my already completed work evaluated at. As I noted, I was already scoring post high school, so the actual school itself was a complete waste for the next six years. Worse, I was actively punished by some of the teachers, who were threatened by me. I certainly didn't help matters; having no experience with public school teachers I did stupid things like offer to take the final during the first week to prove I knew the subject already. That didn't go over well, as you can imagine. For a smart kid who used to look up to teachers to suddenly be scolded and obviously disliked by teachers for knowing too much is about as good a demotivator as you can provide.