Chapter 7:
Groupies and Rainbow
Fifth grade. Oh, boy. Not only was she flying high coming off an amicable break-up and with her eye on the next boy, she was a fifth grader. Finally, the oldest in the school! No one to be afraid of, bow down to…it was her clique’s turn to rule the school. Although her friends were carefully spread out between the three fifth grade classes, they still managed to be together enough that their teachers took notice. While she felt she was a benevolent leader, traveling in a group can be intimidating if you are not in it. Their group name even changed from the immature “Screwballs” fifth grade year because of a teacher’s lecture.
Early on in the year, in an attempt to squash their exclusion a lecture was made, at large, to the fifth grade class that “this groupie that is happening …” the rest of that lecture was lost on her. Her light bulb went off and instead of adhering to a teacher’s advice (shocking, I know, for a teacher’s pet) she was convinced their name must now be “The Groupies.” A new logo was drawn up, featuring a big G with all the other letters merged into it. Then, to cement their choice, “Baby Got Back” came out and used the word “groupies” in it (of course we didn’t understand the connotation of the word in the rap) but were convinced it was a sure sign. “The Groupies” would rule the fifth grade.
Fifth grade also meant devoting more time to being gifted. She has been identified as gifted in second grade. Not having a gifted program in her elementary school, she attended a pull-out class once a week. In second-fourth grade, she went to a different school for one afternoon class a week. Yeah, because that did anything. All it did was call attention to the fact that she was different. Luckily, she had a good rep and could pull off being smart. One time she left to go home for lunch and mistakenly put her chair up, on auto-pilot knowing she was going home, it’s time to put your chair up. She was horrified on the way home knowing her chair was up when everyone else would come back from lunch into the classroom. It was like a bulls-eye on her desk- Vanessa went to a different school for the afternoon because she’s smart. Fifth grade upped the ante and she went to a different school for one whole day a week. Her friends got less understanding. Whether it was jealousy, or just young bitchy girls looking for something to tear her down, who knows. Oh, don’t feel bad for her. She did her fair share of talking behind other girls’ backs too!
The gifted program was called Rainbow. No one took notice of it then, that Rainbow was a gay pride logo and rallying point was not publicly acknowledged or it was just glossed over, just like Boner on Growing Pains was just a silly, non-offensive name. Haha, Boner.
But she realized that people were noticing that she was leaving school once a week. She was different. She was smart. She was a teacher’s pet. Oh no…she couldn’t be cool then! Or could she? She was a goody-goody. No, she was popular! She always got 100% on homework, quizzes and tests. But boys liked her? The lines of popularity were becoming blurred. She still felt she wore the crown, but it was slipping. She became sensitive to those around here. While she still loved learning, she saw the looks on her classmates’ faces when she always raised her hand to be called on. Saw eyes roll when teachers would point out her work. But she also saw looks of relief on other students’ faces when she was called on, because they knew she would deliver the correct answer and they were off the hook.
She was faced with difficult dilemma. If she continued on her present path of always being prepared, volunteering answers, being a model student/teacher’s pet she risked losing friends, being taunted with goody-two shoes and being called a nerd because she was smart. But the alternative was to withdraw from school, be ashamed of being smart and not live up to her potential. She needed to strike a compromise. She knew she couldn’t give up being smart. Math classes were leveled in 5th grade with a pre-test before each chapter to separate students into appropriate classes: high, middle or low. Once, she pre-tested poorly and was not placed in the high group and was thoroughly embarrassed. Her way was clear; she would continue being smart, but act like she didn’t care. She wasn’t a nerd, she just happened to be smart.
Oh, and another side comment. The education field always tries to be so politically correct about grouping kids. Calling them different types of birds, using colors, numbers, even these new labels to denote special education: none of it works. Kids aren’t stupid. By fifth grade, heck even by third grade, you know who is smart and who isn’t. You can figure out if you are in the stupid group. So any teachers or future teachers reading this, don’t worry about being cute making names for your groups. You aren’t fooling anyone.
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