High Achievers

I go to a magnet school. Evey chance he gets, our principal is telling us (and observers from school districts from places like Singapore and Taiwan) that we are the smartest, hardest working, best group of kids around. Right.

Here's how I (along with most of my classmates) do my current events for biology. We're required to write one paragraph summary and one paragraph reaction, and fill up a page.

• Double space.
  
• Use full MLA heading (four line plus the title).
• Write out numbers rather than using numerals. (i.e. nineteen twenties rather than 1920's)
  
• Always include the FULL TITLE of anyone you mention (i.e. "Professor of pediatric neurology at University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the principal investigator on the study") rather than little title, like "Dr. XXX, a professor".
• Include at least one quote.
• Mention every institution named. So, if it's about people at Oxford, also mention the names of supporting institutions as well as the names of anyone associated with them.

Here's what our summaries look like: "I think that this research should be continued, as it contributes to scientific knowledge...filler filler filler".

Since our teacher only skims them, it doesn't matter to us.

Other habits of high achieving students:

• Writing papers no sooner than two days before they're due.
• Writing down the bare minimum for physics homework and then claiming we didn't know how to do it.
• Missing over two weeks worth of class each year because of trips and competitions.
• Facebook.

I just reread through this post and it really does make us sound like a bunch of lazy slackers. But we're not, trust me. We don't slack off when we're not completely overwhelmed. Maybe I'll post again after I finish up that lab that's due tomorrow.