Guidance help?

Question

Hello everyone, this is odd, I'm a guidance counselor so you'd think I'd be answering questions, but I have a major one question that needs answering. A student I've known for a long time came to me the other day, or rather his teacher made him. The kids grades are slipping horribly. He's highly gifted and his average used to be over 98, but now he's barely pulling a 70. His teacher knows something is bothering him but he won't tell anybody. I finally got it out of him. This'll sound pretty dumb but the kid claims that he is a tortured genius. He claims that he is sitting on a fence, between good and evil. He wants to be good, but the bad is very tempting. He wants to be a superhero, but at the same he has plans for world domination. I wouldn't believe it from any other kid but this one. He has shown me plans for robotic suits and advanced nanotechnological schematics, as well as detailed step by step course to take over the world. Nothing I've done seems to be helping him!

Answer 1

wow, that's really tough. you should really contact his parents, or caregiver, to find out if something is wrong at home, as grades that drop that fast are generally a sign of something bigger. you could also talk to his friends to see if they know something, or check to see if he is being bullied. if nothing turns up then i would suggest that you give his caregiver a list of phyciastrists that could help him.

Answer 2

You obviously have to get him professional help.  Lithium may be his answer.  That's sad.

Answer 3

give him time and he will forget about it,hopefully

Answer 4

sounds weird.  Ask yourself this : Is the kid saying stuff like that bc he is trying to get attention or bc he is messed up?

very weird. Poor kid he sounds messed up in the head. Anyways you are the guidance counselor so idk what to say to you

Answer 5

I guess i feel for this kid in a way.. Why? I can compare myself to him, but not entirely though.. I felt like i hated the world and yet loved it.. I felt the need to assassinate the bad people and keep the good.. I was still going to do something bad to create something good.. I was a tortured genius.. Perhaps i was so busy with studying and so busy with doing great i lost track of my mind and my thinking.. It went out of that window. The only reason why i would think these things was because of things around me.. Seeing the violence on TV and seeing the bad things happening. I sometimes wish the world was the way how i wanted it to be... therefore getting rid of the bad with the bad was one of the things i would think of. There is nothing we can do to change the situations in the world because it depends on others also.. But the thing that made me change was that i realised there was more to what i was thinking.. I realised that i loved control so much that i would go to any lengths to have it, meaning i would do the bad and the good. I then started to judge myself more often and i tried to change the fact that i felt i wanted to be in control of everything.. As soon as i let things go, let things slip out of my hand, i wouldn't think so negative. I would only start to think the good and occasionally the bad.. I'm not saying that i am going through the EXACT same thing as this guy, but self exploration, self judgement and life experiences can change these things.. It can change these feelings... for the better or worse.. As far as doing bad being tempting, it is.. It is in our nature to do bad as well as good and it is always tempting... as i would like to let people know that i am the one with the last laugh.. I feel it is some kind of insecurity. If i don't get the last laugh, then i feel i have lost complete control and i would start to feel insecure about myself, causing me to be more controlling and to do the bad more.

Let me sum this up... i believe this guy might be a social activist... with the way things going on in this world, everyone wants to do something about it.. He wants to dominate the planet because he wants to keep things in control, he wants things his way. He wants to do good but does bad because it comes naturally to people.. I feel that he is insecure. Getting to the bottom of his feelings would solve this rather then trying to make him change his mind.. It is something in his life that makes him think this way... good luck.

Answer 6

i went to school with a kid that was really smart but really wierd like that and did not get good grades. there is nothing you can do for someone if they wont open up so dont worry about him, its just a game. he is just ******* up his own life really. kids are stuborn.

Answer 7

I know exactly how this kid was feeling.  I was also the tortured genius when I was a kid (about four years ago) who sat between two fences with plans of world domination and becoming a superhero, of world peace and such things.  The child here is obviously very intelligent, and therein lies the rub.  It seems, my friend, that in order to tackle such a brilliant mind you're going to need  the help of others, but not professionally.  He requires emotional support and confidence.  Obviously if he has kept it secret he lacks one of these, and so getting help outside sounds difficult.  The answer is for you to get him more comfortable around you, and then suggest it to you.  What he needs is friends.

As for trying to understand him, I like Daria believe that he is a social activist, but at the same time I see him as a philosopher.  Encourage him to write, draw, or express himself in any way. These are all good things to do.

Throw him some comic books too.  Unfortunately, Marvel is quite a bit violent, so DC will fair better with the moral fibre of its heroes.  Such comics as Superman (who was driven insane when he discovered that he killed thousand of living things when he took a breath), Batman (the classic tale of a tortured superhero), or Green Lantern (for sheer depth of subject matter, the importance of willpower and their outfrontness for justice). Don't fret about the villains, though. They all get their just desserts.

Answer 8

kid needs a vacation. fast.