Although I might not be a genius, I am quite intelligent. As a child, I did not understand that everyone did not score in the 98th or 99th percentile on standardized tests (the Iowa Test) until my 4th grade teacher explained to me that my talking about the tests was making other students feel bad. I had been the target of a variety of bullying for a while by then, but had not understood the reasons (I had "book" smarts, not "street" smarts). It was about that time that I started having migraines, and subsequently realized that I could miss school because of them ... a LOT of school ... and still score at the top of all of the tests. It wasn't until I became more comfortable with my "goofy/weird" persona in middle school--and found friends who were willing to be weird with me--that I stopped trying to get out of going to school.
My intelligence allowed me to coast through high school and even college with little effort. I've never experienced the moment shown on so many TV shows when the bright high school student finds themselves receiving Ds on their college level papers--my work has consistently been used by professors as exemplar work. That doesn't mean that I didn't work hard--most of my college time has included working nearly or entirely full time while taking classes. I just didn't have to work as hard as others around me.
However, I also know that my knowledge is deficient in a wide variety of areas. There are many things that I do not know. In some cases, the areas are ones that I do not really care about. In others, I don't even have enough knowledge to know what it is that I don't know or where I would have to start to learn. I also freely admit to this when the case applies.
Still, my intelligence seems to rile others unless I deliberately try to hide or soften it. In a society where people keep talking about being proud of who you are, I feel that they don't mean me. They want me to be quiet and not disturb the deluded fantasies that they have constructed around themselves--which I am perfectly happy to do as long as those fantasies do not interfere with the rights of others.
I think that's what made a career in education so attractive to me. I do not have to spend time hiding my intelligence--well, at least not most of the time. Rather, I work with people who relish knowledge and learning new things as much as I do. Although, I'm still a bit goofy/weird there too.