While I also was cowed for awhile in that environment, I found covert ways to act out against the teachers, most hated me. I read insatiably though, and often knew more than they did; learned quickly to always have receipts when debunking their myths. Didn't have cell phones yet, else there'd probably be a bunch of leaked vids lol. I broke into their offices and got test answers, not because I needed them but because they were dumb tests that were full of "gotcha" nonsense instead of real concepts. When some other students thought that it was cool to prove a teacher wrong, they'd get together with me and talk about the subjects they were interested in, read and share some of the same library books, practice vocabulary words in real conversations, etc... we all became smarter and liked it. For me, though, most enjoyable was the thought processes, okay and the plotting lol. If not for my sainted grandmother I probably had a good chance of becoming a serious crook. As it was, I did get into a "gifted" program in middle school, and there leaned to drink, play poker, get sexually assaulted by a college student... so if anyone thinks you missed out on it, don't.