The stupid kid in the class!

Oranage2

Thinking back to my schooldays, I started wondering what ever happened to the stupid kids in the class, I don't mean the average kid who thinks he/she is smart and would get better grades if he/she studied. I'm talking about the absolute thick kids.

From my school, one girl got pregnant at like 14 and a guy went to jail .

Anyone else with tales of yonders past.

SEPT 23 1989

They never got the help they needed at an early age and that manifested into bad behaviour

its sad when you think about it

Winterlong

There was a fella in our class who was always bottom of the class academically.
He was not the brightest spark God love him. But his parents did not help either. He would be sent in to school with his uniform on inside out. Homework never got done etc.
But he was not disruptive or a messer.

Recently I met him in a pub and a happier man you would never meet. He has taken over his dad's farm and done a great job on it by all accounts.
Academia is not for everyone and not a measure of success.

We are friends on facebook now too and he seems to love life. Lives it to the fullest. He has a lovely wife and he and his (now) adult daughter seem to have a fantastic relationship.

So in my case the stupid kid in class did great for himself.

sbsquarepants

I don't think there's too much help available for stupidity - that shít is incurable;)

I don't believe that anyone is 'absolutely thick'.

My theory is that we are all a '7 out of 10' really, it's just that many never find what it is they are good at. Poor teaching, certainly in my school anyway, doesn't help.

That aside, I have no idea what happened to those kids. I imagine they are still living much the same lifestyle as they were 20 years ago, i.e. some chaotic combination of drinking and football.

hairyslug

I'm afraid to ask but if there was no stupid kid in the class, does that make you the stupid kid?

Asking for a friend.

sbsquarepants

Winterlong wrote: »

Recently I met him in a pub and a happier man you would never meet. .

The one and only measure of success in my book!

Richard Hillman

Went to school with a guy that went to prison for murder. It was downgraded to Manslaughter as you do in Ireland after stabbing somebody 17 times.

Django99

A lot of the stupid kids in my class probably weren't that stupid, but a lot of them wanted to be farmers and mechanics and such so the school curriculum wasn't much relevance to them. They learned their most important skills at weekends and holidays working and such.

Haven't seen many of them lately but from what I know a lot of them are farming, working in construction, working in retail. Some of them who did poorly in school have gone back to education.

Avatar MIA

I've pretty much not kept in touch with any of them. But, in my defence, I'm a complete snob. :pac:

_Brian

Guy in my class at national school had behaviour issues, came from a tough family.
Teacher had no idea how to handle him so he was out way over the other side of the room to keep him isolated.

It was years later when I realised he couldn't see the blackboard from where he was sitting and so had no chance of redeeming himself from that point onwards it was downhill.

He dropped out of school and the last I heard he was doing a stretch for man slaughter.

Guy:Incognito

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Went to school with a guy that went to prison for murder. It was downgraded to Manslaughter as you do in Ireland after stabbing somebody 17 times.

He probably fell on them with the knife

Hector Savage

There is no such thing as stupidity , ignorance sure - but academia is not for everyone, you don't judge a dolphin on it's inability to climb trees.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

BalcombeSt4

An awful lot went to jail or ended up on gear.

Vinculus

It's believed that two in ten people have Dyslexia or some other related learning difficulties.
Dyslexic people tend to be very far from being stupid.

Wossack

'Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid' -Albert Einstein

XsApollo

I actually googled a fella I went to school with the other day to see what happened to him, not because he was stupid but because he was a genius.

Put his name in Google and the first result of the search Was the amazing Dr ( insert name here) is now in Dublin picture and all.
He some guru now in cosmetic surgery and stuff like that.

CPSW

Lad in my class in 5th/6th year (who wasn't the brightest and already a father at 15 years old).  He liked to booze and remember one time he produced a bottle of vodka from his schoolbag to have a drink at lunchtime.
Hadn't seen nor thought of him in years till I found out he was found dead, caused by mixing alcohol with pills. Sad ending to a wasted life by the sounds of it.

Curly Judge

One of my best friends at primary school was a fair bit behind the rest of our class.
He was essentially decent, kind (especially to his mother) and hard working and, because he was a fairly useful footballer, very popular and confident.
That is, until the results of the Primary Cert came out leaving him bottom ( by a considerable margin) of seven.
After that he withdrew inside himself and rarely engaged with anybody, including me.

Caliden

He's got 3 kids under the age of 7, a 2015 bmw and a 2000 sq. ft. house all while working a €12/hr job in a factory.


I'd love to know his secret but I've a feeling it's illegal.

hairyslug

There was one lad in our class, was friendly and got on with everyone but it looked like all he wanted to do was get stoned every day. While a lot of people in the class tried to go into medicine or law (it was a D4 school) this lad went off and did an apprenticeship, by pure fluke, 20 years after finishing school we have both moves down to wexford and are in spitting distance. He's happy, his family seems happy and from what he says he's out the door with work.

Summer wind

So many of the people in my class at school have died either in car accidents or from cancer or suicide. Few have turned to drugs and ended up inside. I think those of us still living are doing well:)

Laois_Man

I went to a small country primary school and I was the kid in that school who people probably thought was the thickest. There'd be 3 classes in each room and when we'd change seats, muggins here was always the one sat closest to the teacher. I hated school, I hated my teacher, I had very low concentration levels and focus and my attendance was fairly poor also.

Over 30 years and 2 degrees later, I don't know for certain, but I'd be fairly confident of winning a bet that I now have the highest paying job from all the kids who were in that room.

andekwarhola

Similar to some of the stories here, I've met some schoolmates that you'd have similarly dismissed (to yourself, obviously) back in the day but as adults are nice, seemingly well-adjusted and appear to have pretty normal lives.

School can be a very cruel and conformist place and people can inadvertantly fall into pigeonholes even though their lives are just starting.

FatWalrus

Yeah. There's this guy in my class, Adam. Good God... I know people are saying don't judge and academic **** isn't for everyone. I get it and I agree with you. But this chap...
Firstly he didn't know what a mannequin was, didn't know what the Holocaust was, didn't know who Hitler was, couldn't point Ireland on the map, didn't know the capital of America, London or Ireland (true story) he. . Wow. Just wow. Anyways I graduate​d yesterday, so I'm off to start my own life while him? Probably prison.

dinorebel

FatWalrus wrote: »

Yeah. There's this guy in my class, Adam. Good God... I know people are saying don't judge and academic **** isn't for everyone. I get it and I agree with you. But this chap...
Firstly he didn't know what a mannequin was, didn't know what the Holocaust was, didn't know who Hitler was, couldn't point Ireland on the map, didn't know the capital of America, London or Ireland (true story) he. . Wow. Just wow. Anyways I graduate​d yesterday, so I'm off to start my own life while him? Probably prison.

Yep he was the dumb kid alright.

Phonicks

What about the all A's guy,

600ponits in the leaving


who did a degree in trinity, got top marks and his thesis is used by lecturers

then did a master's,

then a degree in something else

and has never had any kind of job

Pure tashte

A few of the "stupid" lads in my year ended up working in construction in Australia and earning as much or more than the academic students that studied medicine. I would have thought that it's quite rare for someone to be completely without any talent whatsoever, regardless if they are not very academic.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

People change a lot after they leave school. Often people who appeared 'stupid', were either suffering from some kind of undiagnosed learning disability eg dyslexia or just didn't fit in to the standard school system.

My sister wouldn't have been considered very bright at school. She now has a Masters degree and a very good job.

That's why it annoys me when some employers (in particular the Civil Service) still ask for your leaving cert results when you might be years out of school and had lots of impressive achievements since.

OldNotWIse

Ours is working in some makeup place in London I think.

dundalkfc10

me and my best mate were talking about this the other day.

Class of 32 in Primary School.
8 did our leaving cert.
12 Dead (mostly drugs)
4 in jail
3 we dont know
5 Layabouts around the town (dealing, petty crime etc..)

HalloweenJack

What age are yez?

Avatar MIA

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

me and my best mate were talking about this the other day.

Class of 32 in Primary School.
8 did our leaving cert.
12 Dead (mostly drugs)
4 in jail
3 we dont know
5 Layabouts around the town (dealing, petty crime etc..)

How many times did you sum up those numbers to make sure they came to 32 in a thread about stupid people? :P

Arghus

The stupidest kid I knew growing up is dead now because of something stupid.

koumi

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

me and my best mate were talking about this the other day.

Class of 32 in Primary School.
8 did our leaving cert.
12 Dead (mostly drugs)
4 in jail
3 we dont know
5 Layabouts around the town (dealing, petty crime etc..)

was this a christian brothers school?


I don't really know about my former classmates, it's been over twenty years since I've seen any of them really but I suspect most are dong fine. (at least I haven't heard of any of them killing people or being murdered)

I returned to education as an adult a couple of years ago though and there was one girl in my class in particular who wasn't particularly academic, she failed her first exam(a really pretty easy one) and started crying and then went on a pilgrimage to have the lecture sacked for not letting her away with the point she needed to pass. The class tutor, who was a friend of her fathers managed to get her a nice job at the end of it though so she probably was a bit smarter than anyone would have guessed. (fúckin dope) She works for the HSE as a secretary now which is excellent for people on long waiting lists and who need things typed badly.

DubDani

The thickest kid in my class has gone to become the most successful, by a big margin.

While he might not have been the most academic, he always had his fingers on the pulse, knew what was going to be in demand and was fairly creative. He was also fairly popular with his peers, and while he now owns his own Business with more then 450 employees, he has actually hired quite a few of the supposedly smarter classmates to work for him. Al round popular guy up to this day.

ectoraige

Googled him out of curiousity and it appears he had a kid within two years of leaving school, and now works as an assistant manager for an Aldi. He seems happy, he has photos of his most recent toddler feeding him a tinny of cheap beer.

Widdershins

_Brian wrote: »

Guy in my class at national school had behaviour issues, came from a tough family.
Teacher had no idea how to handle him so he was out way over the other side of the room to keep him isolated.

It was years later when I realised he couldn't see the blackboard from where he was sitting and so had no chance of redeeming himself from that point onwards it was downhill.

He dropped out of school and the last I heard he was doing a stretch for man slaughter.

That says it all.

Very dismal stories here.

I don't know what many of my classmates are up to now as I moved away, but I can remember that the girls who, eh, ''got themselves'' pregnant at 15 have trained in social care and various other things in the meantime.

andekwarhola

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

Class of 32 in Primary School.
8 did our leaving cert.
12 Dead (mostly drugs)
4 in jail
3 we dont know
5 Layabouts around the town (dealing, petty crime etc..)

That's a blatantly misleading statistic for Dundalk. Surely less than 8 did the Leaving Certificate?

koumi

Widdershins wrote: »

That says it all.

Very dismal stories here.

I don't know what many of my classmates are up to now as I moved away, but I can remember that the girls who, eh, ''got themselves'' pregnant at 15 have trained in social care and various other things in the meantime.

I got pregnant at 19 and I'm studying law. (true I studied social care and health promotion and medical administration among a realm of other bullshít over the years but it's probably because its just taken me a bit longer to get where I needed to go, what with raising a child alone and working at the same time)
My daughter s in her fifth year of study so I guess I didn't do too bad for a gay knacker single parent.

PARlance

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

me and my best mate were talking about this the other day.

Class of 32 in Primary School.
8 did our leaving cert.
12 Dead (mostly drugs)
4 in jail
3 we dont know
5 Layabouts around the town (dealing, petty crime etc..)

That's some going for primary school kids.

There were six of these in my class.
One left to sell clothes. One works down by the coast. One had two kids but lives alone. One's brother overdosed. One's already on his second wife, and one's just barely getting by.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

Deleted User wrote: »

There were six of these in my class.
One left to sell clothes. One works down by the coast. One had two kids but lives alone. One's brother overdosed. One's already on his second wife, and one's just barely getting by.

Not sure if these are meant to be signs of failure???

Avatar MIA

Zeke Worried Yolk wrote: »

Not sure if these are meant to be signs of failure???

Or any of them really, even the second wife... Could be the best thing he ever did.

daheff

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Went to school with a guy that went to prison for murder. It was downgraded to Manslaughter as you do in Ireland after stabbing somebody 17 times.

Eh -user name....murderer......:eek:

Caliden wrote: »

He's got 3 kids under the age of 7,

I'd love to know his secret but I've a feeling it's illegal.

Not illegal to have 3 kids

Elemonator

I can't imagine there's as many stupid people out there as you would think. The upbringing some of these kids have, especially ones from a rougher family who doesn't value education, has a knock on effect. I know of many I went to school with who could have done so much better but were glad that they passed everything with minimal grades because that is all they thought they were capable of. It's a sad waste really.

My own father grew up in that school environment (home environment was fine) but got the head down and developed a work ethic and as a result became very successful.

koumi

Elemonator wrote: »

I can't imagine there's as many stupid people out there as you would think. The upbringing some of these kids have, especially ones from a rougher family who doesn't value education, has a knock on effect. I know of many I went to school with who could have done so much better but were glad that they passed everything with minimal grades because that is all they thought they were capable of. It's a sad waste really.

My own father grew up in that school environment (home environment was fine) but got the head down and developed a work ethic and as a result became very successful.

I think things were different a generation or so ago, very few people went on to third level education in my parents generation and most people ended up as laborers of some kind whether that was in manufacturing or construction.
My own father came from a relatively small but well educated family and he himself was offered a scholarship at 15 to study at third level, and that was more in keeping with how life worked back then. Few families would have been able to fund further education. He was very successful but because he had more opportunity than most, that's not to say he didn't work hard but he definitely had more going for him than most.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

Elemonator wrote: »

I can't imagine there's as many stupid people out there as you would think. The upbringing some of these kids have, especially ones from a rougher family who doesn't value education, has a knock on effect. I know of many I went to school with who could have done so much better but were glad that they passed everything with minimal grades because that is all they thought they were capable of. It's a sad waste really.

My own father grew up in that school environment (home environment was fine) but got the head down and developed a work ethic and as a result became very successful.

I totally agree. If a child comes from a home where education is valued, and their parents make sure homework is done, always make the effort to attend parent teacher meetings and generally take an interest in how their child is doing at school they are highly likely to perform better than a child whose parents barely know where the school is, never help with homework, never encourage their child to read for pleasure and basically only send them to school because it's the law.

The second child could be far more intelligent than the first child, but the first child will probably do far better at school exams and be far more likely to go on to third level.

davo2001

Just did a quick search online for the stupid fella in my class in primary school, sure enough, turns out he stabbed a fella when he was 17 and got a 12 month suspended sentance, by the looks of it he has had numerious other offences since.

Not surprised, he was thick as **** in school and bullied other people due to his short comings.

10000maniacs

When I was in Secondary school,(Christian Brothers) we had a bizarre system in classes like Mathamatics, Science and Irish whereby we were given tests every few weeks and the teacher created a conveyer belt with the desks whereby the ones that got the highest marks in the tests were put in the top row and the people who got the lowest were put in the $hit row depending on your marks. I was always somewhere in the middle.
Those feckers were a cruel lot.
One guy that always ended up in the last few $hit desks is now running his own technology company in Dublin.