Why it's better to be pretty than smart

When I was a kid I was supposed to be some sort of genius or something. Here's what that means:

In kindergarten you get to read to the class and sit out in the hall with a Big Kid doing fifth-grade work, because nobody knows what to do with you.

In first grade you get to be the youngest kid placed in the gifted program, because nobody knows what to do with you.

In fifth grade you pretend not to know how to spell 'exercise' so you can get the hell off the plywood stage set up in the mall for the regional spelling bee, and nobody knows what to do with you.

In middle school you get kicked out of the gifted program, because you refuse to behave like a Gifted Student, and nobody knows what to do with you.

In high school you give up and quit, because you're smarter than the teachers, bored and destructive, and nobody knows what to do with you.

At thirty you end up lost, because everyone knows what to do with you, but you.