Geniuses vs. Grinds

May 14, 2009 12:05 PM

I'm looking for an old Ask thread about the different ways people do well in school. It talked about the disdain people who glide through have for the people who study hard, and that the former consider effort a sign of not being smart enough to excel without trying.

I'm terrible with time, but I'd guess this was about 1-2 years ago. Anyone remember? Thanks!

posted by daisyace to MetaFilter-Related at 12:05 PM (29 comments total)

Hmm. This one, maybe?
posted by Kat Allison at 12:22 PM on May 14, 2009

I glid through school and far from having disdain for studiers I wish I'd been one.
posted by DU at 12:23 PM on May 14, 2009 [7 favorites]

Does "blind luck" count as "gliding through"?
posted by Spatch at 12:44 PM on May 14, 2009

I glid through school

Quoted for truthiness.
posted by iconomy at 12:47 PM on May 14, 2009

This thread is focused mostly on grading, but might be relevant even if it isn't the actual thread you're looking for.
posted by velvet winter at 1:07 PM on May 14, 2009

I glode through school.
posted by SpiffyRob at 1:27 PM on May 14, 2009

I gleeded.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:30 PM on May 14, 2009

they (han)glidididid
posted by runincircles at 1:42 PM on May 14, 2009

I, too, glode my way through school, where "glode" = "fucked profs for grades."
posted by Mister_A at 1:48 PM on May 14, 2009

That was a grind, hyuk hyuk!
posted by Mister_A at 1:49 PM on May 14, 2009

Last time I tried to glide I dropped out in a glop.

Quick: how do I become a good student?

I've always done well in school, mostly through a combination of natural talent and being able to turn it on when it counts. But not since high school have I been what you might call a "good student." I went to a great college but was fairly apathetic about my classes, skipping most of them, ignoring most of the assigned readings, and starting 10-page papers hours before they were due. My GPA reflected these weak efforts, and it was only through a stellar performance on the LSAT that I managed to squeak into the high-ranking law school that I did.

posted by carsonb at 1:49 PM on May 14, 2009

He glides through his school
With the greatest of ease
The slacker young lad
Does no work and earns Bs
His papers are average
His tests just above
And his presentations kick some ass

Now this girl that I know she works real hard
Provigil all-nighters just to please
But she never enjoys life one quarter so well
As the lad who won't work and earns Bs

OH!
HE!

Glides through the school...
posted by SpiffyRob at 2:05 PM on May 14, 2009 [6 favorites]

I glazed my way. Combination of gliding and laziness.
posted by Elmore at 2:14 PM on May 14, 2009

I gloomed my way through high school, but glee-ed my way through college.
posted by dersins at 2:21 PM on May 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

Well, I'm one of those people who got As on exams without studying or doing homework. (That's how I maintained my rock-solid 2.0 GPA!)

AFAIC, homework is for people who don't pay attention in class.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:31 PM on May 14, 2009

I lie. I glitched my way through school, and glad to.
posted by Elmore at 2:32 PM on May 14, 2009

Sorry you can't find that thread. I can find it even without trying, but I understand it's not everyone that can do it.
posted by qvantamon at 3:05 PM on May 14, 2009 [8 favorites]

This can be the MeTa version of that AskMe thread. Because I have disdain for people who study hard. I hate them with the heat of a thousand suns. Study hard? Try for a good grade? I laugh in your despicable faces as I glide by each and every one of your puny unable-to-excel-without-putting-in-time-and-effort brains. Good grades belong we who put in little, if any, effort.
posted by jabberjaw at 3:17 PM on May 14, 2009

The thread seems to have morphed in my mind into something that it mostly wasn't (and that lived on Ask rather than MeFi). But, I think it is the one Kat Allison pointed out in the first comment, before the rest of you got all caught up in glidding, glidering, and gleeping. Thanks, Kat! I think it was Faint of Butt's and ManInSuit's comments that I was remembering.

And maybe some others' from the bottom half of the thread, which I haven't read yet because I don't feel like putting in that kind of effort.
posted by daisyace at 4:35 PM on May 14, 2009

No, homework is what you do so you don't hafta show up for class.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:25 PM on May 14, 2009

I've fallen headlong through life; it takes no effort and it goes really quick but there's the constant terror of the ground rushing up to meet you.
posted by Abiezer at 7:07 PM on May 14, 2009 [2 favorites]

Might it have been this one? Its about the perils of unconditionally praising children for being smart.
posted by googly at 7:13 PM on May 14, 2009

i see googly didn't do his reading again.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:30 PM on May 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

No, homework is what you do so you don't hafta show up for class.

in my case, exams were what i'd do so i didn't have to do homework. it was a kind of "proof is in the pudding" approach that pissed my teachers off no end.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:39 PM on May 14, 2009

I glammed my way through school. It was the mid-90s, man.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:49 PM on May 14, 2009

I Glade through school, but I blame that on the cafeteria food.
posted by qvantamon at 9:01 PM on May 14, 2009

Ross Gload his way through school too.
posted by SpiffyRob at 5:06 AM on May 15, 2009

I glammed my way through school. It was the mid-90s, man.

I'm afraid that excuse only works if you did your schooling in the 1970s, or at least 1980s. For the mid-90s, in particular, you're double-plus unexcused.

Now if you had said you grunged or gangsta'd your way through school...
posted by dgaicun at 5:17 AM on May 15, 2009

I glissaded my way through school.
posted by kjs4 at 5:19 AM on May 16, 2009