It's possible to make a mistake in both ways. I wish someone told me in my childhood: "Viliam, some things you are interested in are simply too complex for an average person to understand and care about. To discuss them with someone, you must first find sufficiently intelligent people."
My parents never gave me information of this kind, probably believing that it would be morally bad for me to have it. So I spent many years believing that I am too weird and no one can understand me; that my only way to interact with people is to meet them at their turf, never going to mine. (And that social skills consist mostly of pretending to be like other people, and denying what is unique about me.) I did not have a good explanation for this asymetry.
And then (a dramatic exaggeration) I found LessWrong, and I realized there are other people like me on this planet. Then I went to a CFAR seminar and met them in person, so now I also feel on the emotional level they are real.
Sometimes working hard is not an answer, for example when you are a hard-working member in a team of idiots, and it's a job you can't manage all alone. The only solution is to find another team; but to do that you have to believe that different teams are possible, that not all people are the same.
This is other side of the socialization pancake.
"Go to school to learn how to socialize with other children." That has some value if they're genuine peers, but if he's too much smarter than they are, that socialization will likely not turn out well for him.
So I spent many years believing that I am too weird and no one can understand me;
Similar feelings here.
And I had my own LessWrong moment. Or at least, an HPMOR moment. Seeing Harry as a kid fundamentally refuse to accept death as an inevitable part of the natural order, and otherwise al...
Although my 8-year-old son likes his teacher, he is frequently bored at school. He attends a high quality suburban public school in the United States. He has a lot of traits in common with LessWrong readers, and we would like advice for what he can do to counter his boredom. Many of you must have found grade school more or less tedious. What were your coping strategies?