>>3
It's more of a social stigma. I remember being embarrassed when tests got handed back. Some of the meaner kids would tear the test out of my hands or go into my backpack and show everyone that I had got an A. It seems so silly now, but I was absolutely humiliated by my good grades.
I knew that it meant people were going to use me to do their homework and cheat on their tests. I was too much of a pussy to tell them no. The best way for me to avoid it was to not appear to be the smartest kid in the room. I loved science and even math, but I didn't pursue them and eventually willingly fell behind because of the stigma. I could be fucking with atoms and shit now. Instead, here I am in a church pretending to believe in a God that I know doesn't exist, handing money over to a organization that is funding religious bigotry across the globe. Your blind-ego was financed by unassertive fools like me.