Smart, in an easygoing way (great read)

[n2doc]

Daniel de Haas, whose classroom grades are less than superlative, earned the highest score at last month’s California Academic Decathlon. (Robert Durell, For The Times / March 14, 2010)

By Kate Linthicum, Reporting from Omaha
April 24, 2010

When El Camino Real High School senior Daniel de Haas earned the highest score at last month's California Academic Decathlon, he proved himself to be one the smartest kids in the state.

But you wouldn't know it from his grades. The 17-year-old's report cards are riddled with Bs, Cs and the occasional "fail."

Thanks to a requirement that teams include students with a range of grade-point averages, each nine-member Academic Decathlon squad in the country has at least a few kids like De Haas: bright but uneven students who may chafe in a traditional classroom setting.

Coaches say these students bring a certain irreverence to the competition and help loosen up their straight-A — and typically type-A — teammates. And in the high-pressure world of the Academic Decathlon, where students are expected to study up to six hours a day, seven days a week, that's a priceless contribution.

Take it from Benjamin Farahmand, a C student when he was on El Camino Real's 2005 decathlon team. After intense study sessions, Farahmand, now 23, would encourage his teammates to grunt like apes to let out tension. "I was really good at catharsis," he said.

more

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0424-decathlon-20100424,0,5453148.story

[n2doc]

1. kick n/t

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Conformity is rewarded in high school

I had an advanced English class filled with the biggest stiffs in the school. All the funny irreverant kids were in "average" English, but I forget what they called it.

I still think humor is the best indicator of intelligence.

[struggle4progress]

3. And, of course, it's the same story with standardized tests: like grades,

they don't necessarily reflect understanding or knowledge

[BlooInBloo]

4. It's always awkward when you're smarter than your education major teachers.