identitySPECIALIST

I was telling a story this weekend to some friends about how I have always watched people.  I love watching people.  Here’s the quick version of the story.

When I was about 3 or 4th grade, I clearly remember this reading comprehension exercise that we did.  I was already pretty fast at reading and I could comprehend pretty well during that time, but I learned how to beat the system.  You see, we would read a story, write down the time that we completed the story, and then take an oral quiz to see how well the comprehension was.  I already had insanely fast times – which thinking back on it now was pretty stupid because it didn’t matter how fast you read, if the class wasn’t done, you just sat there.  I don’t know why I needed the fastest time, but in 3rd or 4th grade, that’s what mattered.

We would take these oral quizzes afterward to test for comprehension.  That fact that it was oral is quite significant.  At first, I read it completely and took the quizzes out of my own ability, but because I sat in the back of the classroom, I learned that as the questions were being read – that whenever the right answer would be given, every student would lower their head and mark that answer.  A – nothing.  B – nothing.  C – everyone puts their heads down to write that answer.  D – nothing.  For a 7ish year old kid to pick up on this – it was awesome.

I started having insane reading times.  A story that would take the class 10 minutes to read, I would read in like 90 seconds.  I still wanted to skim, and the teacher would think – okay – you got a fast reading time, but let’s see how you do on the quizzes.  I would rock the quizzes, and prey on my little friends that read.  Was it cheating?  I’ll let you judge that.  My friend who I was telling the story to said – that it is foreshadowing of what I do now.  I watch people and I pick up on things.  I’m not always right, but I’ve learned how to do it.

So I ask you this – was that smart or was it sneaky?