<p>To me brilliant isn’t so great without inspiration and especially follow-through.
I think my kids are highly intelligent. But, it won’t get them anywhere without the more ordinary grease that will get them out into the world, gainfully using their smarts. We’re in that period of waiting to see what the college senior does next.</p>
<p>But, you might find the ideas about the “imposter complex” (or syndrome) interesting- apparently so many “brilliant” people underrate their talents and accomplishments that researchers think they can almost identify them by their modesty or how they downplay what they’ve been able to do.</p>
<p>I think that people who talk about how “brilliant” their kids are may be focusing on the wrong things.</p>
<p>The goal of adolescence and young adulthood is to make the transition from childhood to an adult life that works well for the individual. What matters is how well young people are traveling along this path, not the intrinsic qualities they brought with them on the journey.</p>
<p>I have a colleague whose daughter chose a vocational cosmetology program after high school and a friend whose son joined the Navy. Both young people are doing well in the careers they have chosen. They seem to be making the transition to adulthood successfully. On the other hand, I know of young people who went to college but have drifted after graduation (or after dropping out). They’re having a hard time finding suitable jobs and establishing themselves in adult life. They are less successful, in my opinion, than the beautician and the sailor.</p>
<p>My older son has the brains to be brilliant, but I don’t think he has the ambition. All I know is that he was teaching himself to read at two, by asking what everything said and figuring out the rules on his own. He hated secrets and was always trying to crack the code and has always loved puzzles. From the beginning he figured out patterns in things and was unusually observant - whether it was catagorizing toilets or trains. He went through Radio Shack electronic kits at 6 and was starting to teach himself computer programming at 7. He read theoretical math books for fun. BTW his grades and scores were excellent, but not perfect. They were achieved with very little work however. My biggest worry was that college would come as a shock. Luckily he adjusted, but was challenged. That said, he’s now happy being a programmer at Google, but I’ll be surprised if he goes and founds his own company or does anything to make himself famous. </p>
<p>My other son, who is much more of a people guy is a more likely candidate for fame, or at least doing some real useful work in the world, even though he was never precocious at all.</p>
<p>What is “brilliant” is very context dependent. And sometimes temporal, as well. Some people are “brilliant” at certain times in their lives, then it fades and may or may not come back.</p>
<p>I don’t usually use descriptors like " amazing", “brilliant” or “awesome”.
I think that it takes away from the meaning if it’s overused.
Kind of like the " gentleman’s C".
With grade inflation at some schools, a C just doesn’t mean competent & complete anymore, you need a higher grade to indicate you covered what was required.
Same with using “outstanding” to describe everything. What do you call it when the performance was without peer?</p>
<p>And, of course, it’s about the beholder, in the end. My neighbor whose son is at a community college thinks he’s absolutely brilliant because he is getting lots of A’s. And I agree with her. He really * is * brilliant (mostly because he makes his mom happy )
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<p>I assume the use of “brilliant” is influenced by movies and TV from Britain where it’s commonly used: any neat idea or thing is brilliant. A sweater can be brilliant, implying the choice of buying and wearing it was good. And so on.</p>
<p>I’m not brilliant, but I was really pretty good at communicating with people in psychotic states. I could not fix a car, do anything difficult with math, etc. We do need all the different skills to get by here on planet Earth. Happy New Year, my brilliant fellow CCers!</p>
<p>My older son could only calculate 3-digit squares in his head the year he was supposed to be in kindergarten (he actually started in 2nd and finished the year in 3rd). A lessor standard than the boy above, but both my sons have been called “brilliant” by quite a few teachers, friends and acquaintances over the years. It all depends on one’s immediate frame of reference: on a personal “of all the people you know” scale, they would certainly stand out; on a national stage, they wouldn’t even warrant a footnote.</p>
<p>As a parent raising such statistical outliers, I was more concerned with providing my kids with appropriate intellectual stimulation and helping them to adjust to a world that is somewhat out-of-sync with the way they think. The word “brilliant” seems to imply normal everyday kids free of problems when, in fact, it was just a different set of problems that we had to contend with.</p>
<p>LoremIpsum, I thought of your sons when I first read the title of this thread. From what you have said about them in other posts, I do believe they fit the definition (however slippery) of “brilliant.”</p>
<p>kelsmom–I hear you on that. We had a neighbor that was brilliant–physicist, beyond smart, but real life was a challenge for him. He is married with 4 kids and without their help I’m not sure he would remember to get dressed each day…</p>
<p>It’s fairly well known that there is a “optimal IQ range” for social success which is generally considered between 120 and 140 – these folks generally understand the social norms of society and work well within them, yet can “out-think” most of their peers. </p>
<p>Beyond IQ 150, one tends to see a very high percentage of introverts (perhaps 90 percent), some of whom live almost exclusively inside their heads. Your stereotypical “absent-minded professor” is such an example: can’t remember to – or be bothered to – match the color of his socks, and doesn’t understand the point of small talk or other social rituals. </p>
<p>This is why I wrote earlier that, as a parent raising such children, one simply has a different set of problems. “This is what most other people generally do and why” was a frequent topic of our conversations.</p>
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