Immature or Conservative

My oldest daughter is a quiet, sweet, generous, talented and exceptionally bright young lady. I know....I know....aren't they all? :) When it comes time for her to choose her courses for the following year, I always send her GT teachers an email and ask them for their opinions for the next year. They usually all say the same thing...."She can continue in GT if she applies herself." Although she is very bright, Addi is not always motivated to do above and beyond what she needs to do in school. She does just enough to make a good grade, but she won't push herself further. She doesn't study much or do anything besides what is required. I have to admit....she's the same kind of student I was. I always made good grades and did really well in school without exerting much effort. When I was a sophomore in high school, I decided that I wanted to be in the top 10; so then I started to attempt to study a little more. Honestly even by my sophomore year, it was too late for me to make top 10. I was in the top 15 out of my class of 400+, but I didn't reach my goal of top 10. NPayne and I know that Addi is able to achieve much more than she does, and although we don't want to nag her or push her too hard; we know that she really needs to start developing better study habits. NPayne went to meet with her GT History, Language, Social Studies teachers last week. At the beginning of the meeting, they were both leaning towards her moving from GT to PreAp (which is still Advanced Placement....just not as much material is covered). He asked them why they felt that way, since she was doing well in both of their classes and basically never lifts a finger. They both said they thought she was immature and naive. HUH? They then proceeded to tell him that "she doesn't seem to have the same interests as a typical 7th grader....she's not interested in reading any of the books in class....not even the Steven King books." NPayne kindly explained to them that Addi is by no means immature, she may be a little naive; and quite frankly that's okay with us. He told them that she was the oldest of 5....with one sibling being a special needs child....and that he trusts her to take care of them all for a couple of hours while we go out for the evening. He told them that she is surrounded by "young" things still, and that she spends all of her time at church, Girl Scouts, in band, or with her family. He then explained that she probably wouldn't choose most of the books, she had available for her students, because she would think they were inappropriate. Then NPayne hit them with the following statement...."I think you are confusing conservative for immature!" The teacher's reply was simply....."Oh!" He asked them if she was their child, would they let her take the easy road out next year; or encourage her to strive to do more? He told them that Addi may not have the same interests as a typical 7th grader, and we are A-OKAY with that! She then said...."You seem to know your daughter really well!" To which he replied, "Well yes, I am her father!" Then she replied, "Well you may be surprised at how many parents have no idea what their 7th graders are like." So Mrs. Hill....to that last statement I am going to accept as a compliment on NPayne's behalf....but I am also thinking that it's quite sad that there are so many parents who "have no idea what their 7th graders are like." What I do know is that Addi is a true blessing, and I am so very grateful that she is not a typical 7th grader....at least from what Mrs. Hill explained. I hope that she will always sing to her own song, walk her own walk, stand strong in her values, and hold her chin up high for being so called "immature" or what we refer to as "conservative"!