Talking of illuminating, the first sentence of your second paragraph qualifies for that description as I didn't say anything of the sort - if that's an example of your much lauded, by yourself, critical thinking, I'd say you might be entitled to a refund. I was in the top two or three in my class through primary school and always in the top stream through to O levels. I had the intelligence, but, as I got towards my late teens, I found I didn't have the self discipline to make the most of the increased time to yourself you were given in school - I started bunking off more and my work suffered.
That's me being honest. You asked me something and I answered it in plain language not designed to "baffle" or be clever - you should try it now and again.