According to Spotlight, a second-grade teacher was having difficulty with one of her students. The boy’s name is Jimmy and she asked him what was wrong. His reply to his teacher was “I’m too smart for the second grade.” So a serious of questions were asked, and the boy’s answers were too much.
Jimmy also told his teacher that his sister is in the fourth grade and he is smarter than her as well. So as most teachers would do, she brought Jimmy down to the principal’s office to discuss the problem.
The principal told the teacher that he would administer a test for Jimmy to see if he could skip grades.
The stipulations of the test were if Jimmy were to get one question wrong, he would have to go back to class and be quiet. Jimmy and his teacher agreed to the terms.
The first question was “what is 3×3?” Jimmy answered 9, which is correct. The second question was “what is 6×6?” Jimmy answered 36, which is correct.
The principal continued to ask Jimmy questions a fourth-grader would know, and he continued to get them right.
After an hour of questions, the principal told Jimmy’s teacher that he didn’t see why Jimmy couldn’t skip to the fourth grade. The teacher asked the principal if she could ask some questions. He and Jimmy agreed.
Her first question was “what does a cow have 4 of that I only have 2 of?” Jimmy answered legs, which is correct. Her second question was “what do you have in your pants that I don’t?” The principal was about to stop Jimmy, but he answered “Pocket.”
Her third question was “what starts with F and ends in K?” Jimmy answered firetruck, to his principal’s relief.
After she finished with the questions, the principal told Jimmy’s teacher to put him in the fourth grade because he himself got the last questions wrong!
Two things are present from this test; adults have a much more graphic mind than children, and the boy’s answers were almost too much for the principal to handle.