Gifted and Talented
Miriam Werner heard her office door open and continued to type the email she was writing.
“Um... excuse me. Is this the school counselor’s office?”
Miriam looked up, and tried to place the student. Blonde, glasses, no slouch in the looks department (in spite of her conservative clothing and lack of makeup) and eyes that radiated intelligence. Miriam prided herself on knowing all of the school’s students (even if it wasn’t much of a feat in a rural high school like this), but she was drawing a rare blank here. She nodded and motioned for the girl to sit.
The girl obliged and spoke again. “I know I just transferred in, but I’m not finding my classes challenging enough. I was hoping I could talk to you about fixing that?”
Miriam smiled. So this was the new transfer student all the teachers were talking about. “Ah, so you’re Susan Corsetti, then? I’m sorry to hear that the course load your father and I hashed out over the phone isn’t to your liking. What exactly is the problem?” Miriam pulled up Susan’s profile on her computer.
Susan looked nervous. “Well, it’s just... At my old school I was in the gifted and talented program, and all of my classes were honors and AP classes. Right now, you guys have me in the same classes that all the other seniors are taking. I’ve already taken half of the classes I’m currently enrolled in, and even the ones I haven’t taken already are painfully slow and, well, easy. Since this is my last year, I was hoping to have more challenging classes to prepare me for college...”
Miriam looked over Susan’s records. “I’m sorry Susan, but we’re a small district. We’ve never really had the funding to offer AP and honors classes. I’m afraid your last year might have to be an easy one for you. Look on the bright side, you’ll probably be a shoe-in for any college you decide to apply to.”
Susan looked crestfallen.
Miriam frowned. This wouldn’t do at all. “That said... I might still be able to help you. I do have a way to make your classes more challenging without breaking the school’s budget...”
Susan brightened a little. “Really? How?”
Miriam pulled out a red crystal that seemed to shimmer in the light. “With this. Why don’t you take a closer look?”
Susan’s excitement faded. Was this some sort of new-agey crystal nonsense? However, as she glanced at the crystal she couldn’t help but notice the strange star pattern the light made as it passed through. Even though Miriam was holding it perfectly still, it seemed to move, radiating outward again... and again... and again... Eventually, Susan was just staring, zombie-like at the crystal.
“Susan, can you hear me?” Miriam asked.
There was a brief pause before Susan gave a soft, breathy response. “Yes.”
Miriam crossed her arms. What was the best way to do this? “You’re unhappy because your classes are too easy, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong with each of your classes. Let’s start at the top, what don’t you like about English 4?”
Susan’s response was an odd combination of breathy and robotic. “Too easy. Already read everything. Already took AP Literature and Composition.”
Miriam raised her eyebrows. “It sounds like you’re an avid reader. Is that true?”
Susan said, “Yes. Love reading. Do it. Non-stop.”
“Well, if you’re going to get the most out of English 4, that needs to change. You actually hate reading.”
Susan furrowed her brow. “No. Love reading. So many... good memories.”
So there was the problem. “Susan, you can’t remember the last time you read a book. It might have been in middle school, or elementary school.”
Susan seemed to process this.
“Susan, tell me the last book you read?”
Susan looked confused. “Don’t... remember.”
Miriam nodded. “Alright, Susan. You hate reading books. You prefer to find summaries online, or to ask your classmates what happened in the last reading.”
Susan sat for a long time, a number of emotions passing over her face. Miriam always found it interesting seeing how radical changes played out in a person’s psyche. Finally, Susan’s face was again neutral.
“Alright, Susan. What do you think about reading?”
Susan had a look of disgust on her face. “Don’t like it.”
Miriam smiled. “Alright, do you think your English 4 class is going to be too easy for you?”
Susan shook her head, never taking her eyes off the crystal. “No.”
“Okay, moving on. What’s wrong with your Calculus class?”
Susan sighed. “Already taken Calculus III and Differential Equations classes.”
This should be an easy fix. “Alright, you don’t remember taking any Calculus classes. In fact, you haven’t really taken Pre-calculus.” Catching up halfway through a semester of Calculus was sure to be difficult.
Miriam went through Susan’s remaining classes and erased knowledge and altered preferences as necessary. Susan went from conversationally fluent in Spanish, to barely able to string half-remembered vocabulary together. Her knowledge of physics and European history went from a vast ocean to a tiny puddle, and to increase her enjoyment of her “Computer Applications” class she went from a typical Post-Millennial able to easily navigate most computer tasks (and with a tiny bit of scripting and programming knowledge) to a computer illiterate barely able to use Youtube without help.
Miriam questioned Susan and was satisfied that she would find all her classes challenging. However, Miriam still felt like something was missing. She had removed so many of Susan’s interests, maybe she should give her some new ones so she wouldn’t find her life suddenly strangely empty?
“Susan, you love fashion. You love makeup. You take pride in your appearance. When you’re not thinking about school, which is often, you should be thinking about finding a good husband who can support you.”
Susan processed this final command as Miriam put away the crystal. Susan blinked a few times and looked around, confused. “Where, like, am I?”
Miriam smiled. “I’m the school counselor. You wanted to talk to me about your classes being too easy.”
Susan’s eyes had an emptiness to them. So much of her was missing. “Um, like, why would I do that? My classes are actually, like, super hard. I barely know what’s going on in most of them.”
“Well, I can put you in lower level or remedial classes if you don’t feel your previous school prepared you for the classes you’re currently taking?”
Susan shook her head and smiled. “No, like, thank you! I like a good challenge!”