When I was in school, we didn’t have the option to skip grades if we were smarter than the other kids in our class. Not that I was. Quite the opposite, in fact. But I’ve always been intrigued by kids who are so smart that they skip several grades and graduate early. Singer John Legend did this, in fact. He graduated from high school when he was 16. And just look at the head start that gave him! However, where I went to school, the administration thought that kids need time to grow emotionally, too, and they believed it was damaging for a child to be placed with peers who are much older than them. There’s probably a lot of logic to that. However, it occasionally happens that a child is not only book smart but also has a lot of common sense. That’s the case in the joke below. This kid totally deserves to be promoted up several grades. Hilarious!
A first-grade teacher was having trouble with one of her students. One day she asked Johnny what his problem was he replied, “I’m too smart for the first grade, my sister is in the third grade and I’m smarter than her too.”
The teacher took him to the principal’s office and explained the situation to the principal. The principal told her that he would give Johnny a test, and if he failed to answer one question he would have to go back to the first grade and be quiet. The teacher and Johnny both agreed.
Principal: “What is 3 x 3?”
Johnny: “9.”
Principal: “6 x 6?”
Johnny: “36.”
And so it went on like this, the principal asked him every question a third grader should know. Finally, after about an hour he told the teacher “I see no reason Johnny can’t go to the third grade, he answered all of my questions right.”
The teacher asked if she could ask him some questions. The principal and Johnny agree.
Teacher: “What does a cow have 4 of that I only have 2 of?”
Johnny: “Legs”
Teacher: “What do you have in your pants that I don’t have?”
The principal gasps but before he can stop him from answering Johnny says, “Pockets.”
Teacher: “What does a dog do that a man steps into?”
Johnny: “Pants.”
Teacher: “What starts with F and ends with K and means a lot of excitement?”
Johnny: “Firetruck.”
The principal breaths a big sigh of relief and says “Put Johnny in the fifth grade, I got the last 4 questions wrong myself.”
