[randomdata]

An alternative anecdote: I often received poor marks in school because I was curious about learning things that were unrelated to what was being taught at the given time.

I distinctly remember sitting in high school math class solving some mathematical problems that were to be taught later because it was interesting and applicable to my learning needs at that point in time. The topic the teacher wanted to teach that day was not applicable to the problems I needed to solve at that moment, so it made no sense to learn it on that very day.

If marks had been a concern of mine, I would have had to have given my teachers at least some attention, taking time away from my education.

[TeMPOraL]

Another anecdote: instead of doing math homeworks and paying 100% attention to the classes I started to learn programming, because I wanted to make games. I could program stuff at 13, and - thought having bad math grades ever since - learned the material I missed later, in a way that was more/less related to game development or my other needs.