Enhanced and Entranced

Why do I always get a surprised reaction whenever I tell people I'm Enhanced? It's not as if I'm some sort of freak or something, or that I study night and day. There are probably some Enhanced kids who are like that, but there also are probably a bunch of Advanced students like that too. I think people too often perceive Enhanced students as geeks who have no fashion sense, get 99's in every class, and sit at home on Friday nights contemplating the practical applications of Quantum Physics. I don't think so, and to tell you the truth, it's pretty far from the truth.

I guess there are a lot of people who don't understand how a person can be deemed "intellectually superior" by some stupid test taken when we were in grade 3, 4, or 5. It's not as if one's entire intellectual abilities are able to be summed up in one little test where there are just a bunch of dots that you'd have to fill in. Besides, we were just in grade 4 at the time! Sometimes I overhear people say "you're only Enhanced because you got lucky when you took the CCAT test.” Honestly, even if I weren't Enhanced, I would take that personally.

As for getting 99's (or better) in every class, I think that's just a load of bullshit. I don't think that many people would like to advertise their grades to everyone, but if I were to look around, there definitely aren't perfect grades all across. Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but there are Enhanced students who get 69's, and there are ones who have a 95 average too. I guess the misconception is that someone who is considered smart must also get good grades. Even though I believe that there is already too much emphasis on grades in school, I think that just because someone has good grades, it doesn't mean that they're necessarily smart. There is such thing as being smart creatively, musically, socially, and artistically. Anyway, some of the most academically inclined people I know are the most dense conversationalists I've ever met.

I can never seem to escape the stigmas that are attached with being Enhanced -- one being that we are all geeks with no fashion sense, because we stay home studying all the time. However, I do remember someone telling me that Enhanced kids have the best styles. There was also another Advanced student who told me that he has seen Enhanced kids dress from beyond geek, to preppy. I suppose there are a lot of Enhanced students who don't dress "Enhanced", because people aren't often able to distinguish an Enhanced (or not) based on their clothes. I myself, have received surprised reactions upon revealing "my true identity", because I supposedly don't seem Enhanced. I might take that as an insult, but I find that I'm not treated any differently, except that everyone notices if I do something Enhanced like use a big word.

I often hear people say that Enhanced students are just one big clique. When I was in the (even) younger grades, it was true that I had a nasty little Enhanced clique with me all the time. We were pretty uncharacteristically Enhanced, but that's besides the point since almost all of us dropped out of the Enhanced program. In Woodlands however, I've noticed a few distinctly Enhanced cliques, but there are also a few Enhanced kids who are mostly around Advanced students, or both. Whatever it is, not all Enhanced kids are part of a purely "Enhanced crew" all the time. It is true that some of them are a bunch of elitists, but Advanced kids can be like that too.

In grade 8, I remember my friend making a speech to the class about "why the Enhanced program sucks". Most of it was just slander, and she got in trouble, but there were some parts which contained valid points. She mentioned how Universities don't even care whether a student was Enhanced or not, and how budget cuts were screwing everyone up including the Enhanced classes. Two years later, it's still true that Enhanced classes (which are not supposed to exceed 25 students), have to put up with classes of over 35 people. I know that Advanced classes have to deal with that too, and I've heard complaints, but now it's a problem in almost every class.

Sometimes, I wonder why I actually chose to stay in the Enhanced program when I could have easily transferred out of it. There are a few advantages to being Enhanced, that some of my friends miss out on since dropping out. In the lower grades, to the dismay of many Advanced students, we spent much of our class time on field trips, class discussions, and projects. It seemed as if we were having an easier time than the non-Enhanced students, and we were supposedly being challenged! Now, it doesn't even make a difference, because we don't take all Enhanced classes (thanks to de-streaming), and most of our teachers don't teach us any differently than everyone else.

School as seen through an Enhanced student's eyes isn't as peachy as it may seem. Although I haven't gotten to the stage where I'm as cynical as the others, I can still see that there are too many misconceptions about being Enhanced, and that many of the same issues that affect Advanced students, affect us too. There are some extremes that are real, such as a few of us being computer geeks, but the thing is, not ALL of us are computer geeks, and not ALL of us dress like one either. While a good majority of Enhanced students do get good grades, there is also a minority of us who couldn't care less about school. Enhanced students in some ways are not that different than the average Advanced student. We have our cliques, bad-asses, losers, preps, brainers etc. but so do Advanced students. As much as I would like to forget about it, Enhanced students still have to hassle with lazy teachers, cutbacks, and overcrowded classrooms just like the rest of the school.

For those who still believe that Enhanced students are just a bunch of brainers, I urge you - the next time you see a hapless Enhanced student clutching their school books to their chest- snap their suspenders and give them a massive wedgie before the favour is returned.

By: T.W