The stupid kid in the class!

Oranage2 · 25-05-2017 10:02AM #1

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 · 25-05-2017 10:07AM

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 · 25-05-2017 10:10AM

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 · 25-05-2017 10:10AM

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

25-05-2017 10:11AM

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 · 25-05-2017 10:12AM

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 · 25-05-2017 10:12AM

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 · 25-05-2017 10:14AM

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 · 25-05-2017 10:24AM

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 · 25-05-2017 10:27AM

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

_Brian · 25-05-2017 10:38AM

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 · 25-05-2017 10:42AM

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 · 25-05-2017 11:18AM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:01PM

This post has been deleted.

BalcombeSt4 · 25-05-2017 12:05PM

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

Vinculus · 25-05-2017 12:16PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:22PM

'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 · 25-05-2017 12:25PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:27PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:27PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:28PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:29PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:36PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:36PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:44PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:45PM

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 graduated yesterday, so I'm off to start my own life while him? Probably prison.

dinorebel · 25-05-2017 12:52PM

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 graduated yesterday, so I'm off to start my own life while him? Probably prison.

Yep he was the dumb kid alright.

Phonicks · 25-05-2017 12:55PM

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 · 25-05-2017 12:57PM

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 · 25-05-2017 01:00PM

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 · 25-05-2017 01:00PM

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

The stupid kid in the class!

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