Results 1 to 25 of 25

Thread: Alpha Quadra Experiences with School

  1. #1
    MidnightWilderness's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    TIM
    SEI
    Posts
    420
    Mentioned
    32 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default Alpha Quadra Experiences with School

    I would like to see the correlations between school experiences and the four types, ESE, SEI, LII, and ILE but also the different subtypes of each type. It's just for fun because I am not convinced in socionics actually working yet.

    My best guess for my subtype would be Fe and not Si, but I am not really extroverted seeming, so I don't think I have one at all. Not too sure what my subtypes in the other systems are.

    For me my favorite subjects were European History and Math. My least favorite subjects were state History and AP Chemistry, and also Creative Writing. Subjects that I felt neutral on were Biology and English.

    I enjoyed European History because it was fun to see all the connections between events in history, and the world made a little more sense to me after that class. Math is only my favorite because I think the homework is the easiest to do (which isn't saying a lot because I sucked at homework), otherwise it was boring and I didn't find it interesting at all.

    In state History, well let's just say the teacher had this "America is the best country and never did anything wrong" attitude in his teaching. I didn't like Creative Writing because we had to listen to this awful slam poetry which had a lot of people who don't understand societal issues talking about feminism and the such like, and speaking. with. stupid. random. punctuation. and. terrible. intonation. Some of them were actually good, but most of it just felt so unoriginal, or missing the point, or just acted out terribly. Then I am bad with writing when there are rules for what I can and can't do. AP Chemistry was just the worst class I ever had, and it wasn't the teacher at all but the work. I found it completely uninteresting and hard to do. So many rules and facts and things about molecules that I didn't like. I did not even enjoy the labs because of the evil lab reports and just the tedious detail and...

    Biology was okay, and English would have been fine if I didn't keep daydreaming about scenarios in my head where I argue with the school system on their choice of books and the teachers with their opinions. I felt that most of the book choices either didn't match the themes too well or they felt a little redundant or childish. Although maybe it was just that I am not interested in such books.

    The other subjects I can't really say much about so they weren't very interesting or they didn't cause me enough pain.

    I did Scholars Bowl (basically it was trivia) and I enjoyed it very much, because trivia makes you feel a little smarter when you can guess the question correctly and quickly. I tried track and field, but I found out that I hated running when I was forced to do it at an exact time.

    I can't say much about the teachers because I was very quiet and usually I didn't interact with them much one on one.

    Well, I was a procrastinator, which meant that I almost always did my work the day before. Oh and also I was a major perfectionist on some assignments. I almost never studied for anything either.

    I excelled at test taking and reading comprehension, and yeah, that's it.

    Of course even among the same type I think people will answer differently, but I just wanted to see if there was any correlations between experiences and type and what they were.

  2. #2
    ouronis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    TIM
    ref to ptr to self
    Posts
    2,999
    Mentioned
    130 Post(s)
    Tagged
    2 Thread(s)

    Default

    Assuming we're talking about high school/pre-college, history, music, and chemistry were my best classes. I wasn't any good at physics and didn't care about biology, but chemistry clicked and seemed really easy.

    I hated english literature. Math was neutral. I was like an A-/B+ student in math.

    When I got into college, I liked statistics (from the perspective of the implications of the theory around it) and sociology also clicked and seemed super-easy.

    In general, I hated school but never had much issue with it. There was just a lot of down-time and boredom.
    Last edited by ouronis; 04-04-2021 at 12:32 AM.

  3. #3
    Moderator myresearch's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Posts
    2,043
    Mentioned
    199 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    My favorite subjects were geometry, math and philosophy. These subjects didn't require any amount of work on my end, they were also fun to me. I still help my younger cousins when they need help in math and geometry, it is like solving sudoku to me.

    I didn't like any subject that requires mainly memorization like biology, history. However, there were sub-subjects that didn't require memorization or that I find interesting, I was fine with them.

  4. #4
    MidnightWilderness's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    TIM
    SEI
    Posts
    420
    Mentioned
    32 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    @ouronis I will assume you are Alpha NT? Do you know which one or....?

    Ah I didn't really specify which grades of school, mostly just high school up through University.

  5. #5
    Professional IEI Identifier on a peaceful hiatus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    TIM
    LII-C
    Posts
    4,328
    Mentioned
    259 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    @MidnightWilderness: I just want to write something short: I noticed some of your postings in the last few weeks and I think that you're an IEI, and not an SEI. you have the same type as Ian Curtis in my opinion. that's all I wanted to mention.
    my ideas about socionics:

    https://soziotypen.de/thoughts-on-socionics/

    the section will be updated ever other month or so

    https://www.the16types.info/vbulleti...-(IEI-edition)

    this is a VI thread with IEI examples

  6. #6
    MidnightWilderness's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    TIM
    SEI
    Posts
    420
    Mentioned
    32 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    @Alive What makes you think that? Hopefully not because of my profile photo, my music tastes just happen to have Betas in them.. I don't really see myself as using Ni at all.

  7. #7
    FreelancePoliceman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    TIM
    LII-Ne
    Posts
    5,679
    Mentioned
    524 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    In elementary school I didn’t really care about any of my classes. I would just try to do my work as quickly as possible, and then I’d read in my free time while everyone else was still doing their assignments, since we could take books from the school library and keep them in our desks. I didn’t have many friends — an SEI girl in 1st grade, an SEI boy in 2nd, an ILE in 3rd and 4th grade. During recess I’d either play/walk around with whoever was my friend that year, or if they were busy or otherwise occupied I’d usually just walk around under the trees and study the ants and caterpillars (there were always many tent caterpillars on the trees when the weather was warm). Sometimes I remember the teachers for some reason didn’t like when I did that. It was a large playground with a few different “stations” scattered throughout, and if no one was at one I’d occasionally go there and sit or play alone. I didn’t really understand how to act among a group and it made me uncomfortable to be around many people at once. Actually it made me uncomfortable to even talk with most people one on one. With the SEIs I preferred when they would just talk and felt comfortable; I liked to listen and to watch them. The ILE was the only person I remember feeling entirely comfortable talking with, because he was so distracted and laid back I knew he wouldn’t care too much if I said anything weird.

    I was homeschooled from a certain curriculum in high school. I mostly saw it all as just stuff I had to do. I didn’t like writing papers because they took the most time for me to do. The only class I remember enjoying was history; the program was good/interesting.
    Last edited by FreelancePoliceman; 04-04-2021 at 12:19 AM.

  8. #8
    Professional IEI Identifier on a peaceful hiatus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    TIM
    LII-C
    Posts
    4,328
    Mentioned
    259 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MidnightWilderness View Post
    @Alive What makes you think that? Hopefully not because of my profile photo, my music tastes just happen to have Betas in them.. I don't really see myself as using Ni at all.
    the picture had nothing to do with it, but I mentioned it because I thought it might interest you. it's an intuitive observation, can't really explain why.
    my ideas about socionics:

    https://soziotypen.de/thoughts-on-socionics/

    the section will be updated ever other month or so

    https://www.the16types.info/vbulleti...-(IEI-edition)

    this is a VI thread with IEI examples

  9. #9
    ouronis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    TIM
    ref to ptr to self
    Posts
    2,999
    Mentioned
    130 Post(s)
    Tagged
    2 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MidnightWilderness View Post
    @ouronis I will assume you are Alpha NT? Do you know which one or....?

    Ah I didn't really specify which grades of school, mostly just high school up through University.
    LII

  10. #10
    edgy princess eiemo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2020
    Location
    a vacuum
    TIM
    no clue
    Posts
    232
    Mentioned
    21 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    I am not an Alpha. I am probably a Beta or a Gamma.

    My favorite subjects are history, Model UN, and chemistry. I have a really good chemistry teacher. I really like the way that she breaks down chemistry and physics in a straightforward and applicable manner. She does give a lot of work, but I like doing it. I can't complain.

    I like history and Model UN because I am fascinated by governments and politics. I love learning about which factors change governments or cause them to fall. I also find the way that people attain high positions to be interesting. Additionally, I like to learn about how people exercise their power and their impacts on society.

    My least favorite subjects are math and art. I think that math and art require you to be thorough; I tend to jump to conclusions pretty easily. I tend to forget a lot of the concepts in math pretty easily, and I tend to mess up the process. In math, there are only one or a few right answers. This is different from politics. Politics is process-oriented to an extent, but results matter more than precision in politics. In math, it is the opposite.

    I don't like art because I am not very good at it. I often find it to be tedious. It's that simple.





  11. #11
    The Banana King's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2021
    TIM
    ILE-Ti VLEF sx/sp
    Posts
    194
    Mentioned
    17 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Fave subjects: Math and Science (pretty generic ILE I know hahah)
    Least fave subjects: History and Geography
    I hated school though lol
    Never liked learning stuff by obligation. The whole routine of going everyday to school was also a huge pain in the ass for me.

    As for my social life it was meh, I had friends and all but it was always the weirdos lol. I was generally liked but kinda in a 'class pet' or 'funny kid' sort of way. Not one of the cool guys lol.
    My best friends were... uhhhh I think I had 2 SEI guy friends (closest friends), an LII/EII guy and my SLI cousin. Sadly I didn't know about socionics back then cause I shoulda done more to keep in contact with em cause they were good friends. Looking back I was a shitty friend and it's one of the very few things that I regret.

    School generally sucked and I wanted to grow up fast but now I kinda wanna go back to those carefree days without adult responsibilities haha

  12. #12
    ☽ the cutest type ☾ Aquamarine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    TIM
    SEI 9w1
    Posts
    1,474
    Mentioned
    85 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    My favorite subjects were geography, Spanish and English. This is from high school. University...I hate school so there's no favorite. I was good at some topics in math in high school so I liked it, but then I was bad at some topics and I'd hate it. My least favorite subject would have to be physics. I could pass most of my courses in high (get good grades) doing the bare minimum effort so that was good.
    Chronic "grass is always greener" syndrome




  13. #13
    Static's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
    Posts
    101
    Mentioned
    6 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    My favorite subjects were science and a few certain math classes like algebra, absolutely hated English/literature and history.

    I enjoy science especially human biology and medicine because it was the only subjects that I understood very quickly and it satisfied my Ti really well , some maths like algebra also did that somewhat. English I absolutely loathe because I can’t write that much and teachers are looking for certain interpretations not whatever you personally think even tho that’s what they always say. History I just found boring because i find it uninteresting learning about the past and US history plus all the answers are in the book so it’s based off just remembering the answer than complex thoughts to solve a problem.

    I was the quiet, shy but nice and somewhat outgoing kid, I always tried to treat everyone how I wanted to be treated, etc etc. Was also very insecure. I had one group of friends I met in elementary school, an ILE, ESE and SLE. Also had a couple of other friends on the side: IEE, SEE, and LII

    I hated highschool tho, too many people full of themselves, think they’re better than others and would bring others down constantly. I would always have conflicts with groups of girls who were so stuck up and judgemental all the time it was for real amazing to see that someone could really be like that lol.

  14. #14
    Stray Cat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    TIM
    SLE-Ti
    Posts
    816
    Mentioned
    107 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MidnightWilderness View Post
    @Alive What makes you think that? Hopefully not because of my profile photo, my music tastes just happen to have Betas in them.. I don't really see myself as using Ni at all.

    Si-valuers re-tell events with accurate detail, giving the impression they're actually re-living the experience

    Ni-egos re-tell from a roughly disembodied, slightly bird's view of events. Rather than detail, they'd focus on the pure meaning of those events

    Si is external dynamics of fields, Ni is internal dynamics of fields. Si has an intimate connection with the facts of the world, while Ni has an intimate connection with the abstract or what they believe to be ultimate truth

  15. #15
    MidnightWilderness's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    TIM
    SEI
    Posts
    420
    Mentioned
    32 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Stray Cat View Post
    Si-valuers re-tell events with accurate detail, giving the impression they're actually re-living the experience

    Ni-egos re-tell from a roughly disembodied, slightly bird's view of events. Rather than detail, they'd focus on the pure meaning of those events

    Si is external dynamics of fields, Ni is internal dynamics of fields. Si has an intimate connection with the facts of the world, while Ni has an intimate connection with the abstract or what they believe to be ultimate truth
    I think simplifying Ni to an intimate connection with the ultimate truth sounds a bit misleading. I would say I care more about what I believe to be the ultimate truth than the details of life. However I don't think this particular post or the way I retell events is more "disembodied" than detailed, so I don't know what Alive really saw in this...

    (Also I disagree with most descriptions of Si, so either I am mistyped or no one has created a description of Si that is actually understandable or relatable to Si users)

  16. #16
    Stray Cat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    TIM
    SLE-Ti
    Posts
    816
    Mentioned
    107 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by MidnightWilderness View Post
    I think simplifying Ni to an intimate connection with the ultimate truth sounds a bit misleading. I would say I care more about what I believe to be the ultimate truth than the details of life. However I don't think this particular post or the way I retell events is more "disembodied" than detailed, so I don't know what Alive really saw in this...

    (Also I disagree with most descriptions of Si, so either I am mistyped or no one has created a description of Si that is actually understandable or relatable to Si users)
    This is simply my take. I don't know you. I can only reply with something that MIGHT be of good....

    IF you believe understanding your socionics type will help you on your path through life it's your responsibility to determine what it is. Mis-typing yourself & making choices according to that type will suck. If you're truly an Ni-dom, using Ni will feel effortless. If you're truly an Ni-dom, using Si will feel a bit like a chore & require more energy.

    Cheers mate

  17. #17
    Seed my wickedness The Reality Denialist's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Spontaneous Human Combustion
    TIM
    EIE-C-Ni ™
    Posts
    8,206
    Mentioned
    335 Post(s)
    Tagged
    2 Thread(s)

    Default

    Chemistry: easy and seemed to become even easier in uni. It was hard to understand why I usually scored the highest points in examinations when I only studied (few) day(s) before it.

    Math: Elementary school I liked it first 5 minutes in the beginning of each topic then it got boring. Next level I was the noisy kid who was few steps ahead of teaching in classes and finished all the calculations from the book before others. During the last years I was not a fan of the style it was represented in (so much bottom up thinking which is kind of opposite how I go about it). I got better at it (once I had the overall vision) and nailed the final tests. I was bit too sloppy in uni but it was OK band many few weird proofs that made pros scratch their heads.

    Physics: Ugh. It was content-less at first later it became formula substitution and it was weird. Then in uni I when I had good handle of calculus and became quite OK at it.

    Didn't care a lot about subjective subjects. I tried to make myself either laughable or invisible. Super sloppy.

    The above applies for languages. It was about everyday mumbojumbo and pretty much halted my brain. Scientific context is much easier for me.
    MOTTO: NEVER TRUST IN REALITY
    Winning is for losers

     

    Sincerely yours,
    idiosyncratic type
    Life is a joke but do you have a life?

    Joinif you dare https://matrix.to/#/#The16Types:matrix.org

  18. #18
    The Darling Duck~ MissDucki's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    Location
    In a dark room somewhere
    Posts
    1,599
    Mentioned
    226 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    In high school, my favorite subjects were art, psychology, and history. Took all through high school. I should have taken cosmetology but I thought I wanted to go into graphic design and so I skipped it. Math and science were my weakest classes as it takes a long time for me to wrap my head around it and understand it. Plus, they didn't interest me.

    I've always been good with my hands, so anything evolving that was a breeze. Theory takes me the longest to learn as I have to seriously play with it for a while and bounce it off someone to understand better. Theory is best for me when I can test it out in real life or if I see it being tested. It helps me understand better. I like theory, just I struggle and I prefer more 'realistic' theory I can use in daily life.

    In University I have a degree in Modern Languages and I am finishing up a Psych degree which I plan on continuing into graduate school.

    I will say this, I also struggle the most with classes at the beginning and then rock it by the end. My first year of both university and high school I struggled grade wise and in regards to information. I never had terrible grades, I was average, but I wanted to do better and achieve more. I struggle a lot when it comes to new information and what the teacher or professor wants from me. I just need the info first hand so I can categorize it and figure out how to make it work for me. This can often take a lot of time.

    I kinda like school.......but I love learning and I find there is (sadly) a difference between the two.

    Social wise, I kinda do my own thing. I struggled socially but, people tend to like me and I was able to make friends. I like socializing with people just, I get socially anxious at times, I just want to listen and get out. I had a lot of close Gamma NT (type 3) and Delta NF friends growing up. I had some Alpha and Beta friends too but they were not as close.
    Last edited by MissDucki; 06-05-2021 at 09:12 PM.

  19. #19
    Rebelondeck's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Posts
    1,929
    Mentioned
    175 Post(s)
    Tagged
    1 Thread(s)

    Default

    I preferred literature and history even though I was mediocre in grammar. High school teachers thought I would be an artist or writer. Sciences were absolutely no challenge whatsoever and I usually went through the entire mathematics texts within the first two months of the school year but I can't say that I identified with these subjects even though engineering became my profession. My parents said that I was more worried about my friends being able to pass the exams.

    I would have preferred to have been a journalist or even an architect but I saw that in those fields, the competition would be rather fierce and success would depend on the perception of others - similar to a dance competition. In my first year of university, my English professor gave me low marks for my essays while my lazy room-mate copied them verbatim and got high marks from his professor. I came to the realization that marks weren't necessarily an indication of knowledge, know-how or intelligence. I also disliked the seeming clique-structure of university societies so academics were definitely out.

    a.k.a. I/O

  20. #20
    Moderator myresearch's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Posts
    2,043
    Mentioned
    199 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Rebelondeck View Post
    I would have preferred to have been a journalist or even an architect but I saw that in those fields, the competition would be rather fierce and success would depend on the perception of others - similar to a dance competition. In my first year of university, my English professor gave me low marks for my essays while my lazy room-mate copied them verbatim and got high marks from his professor. I came to the realization that marks weren't necessarily an indication of knowledge, know-how or intelligence. I also disliked the seeming clique-structure of university societies so academics were definitely out.

    a.k.a. I/O
    I wasn't into every aspect of literature. However, I wrote poems since I was a child till I was 20. Hence, I considered studying literature or philosophy as well since I was very into it, I still am but not that much. However, I didn't take these considerations very seriously because as you said the success on these subjects are very depend on perception of others. Hence I also studied engineering.
    Last edited by myresearch; 06-05-2021 at 11:16 AM.

  21. #21
    Stray Cat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    TIM
    SLE-Ti
    Posts
    816
    Mentioned
    107 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Rebelondeck View Post
    I preferred literature and history even though I was mediocre in grammar. High school teachers thought I would be an artist or writer. Sciences were absolutely no challenge whatsoever and I usually went through the entire mathematics texts within the first two months of the school year but I can't say that I identified with these subjects even though engineering became my profession. My parents said that I was more worried about my friends being able to pass the exams.

    I would have preferred to have been a journalist or even an architect but I saw that in those fields, the competition would be rather fierce and success would depend on the perception of others - similar to a dance competition. In my first year of university, my English professor gave me low marks for my essays while my lazy room-mate copied them verbatim and got high marks from his professor. I came to the realization that marks weren't necessarily an indication of knowledge, know-how or intelligence. I also disliked the seeming clique-structure of university societies so academics were definitely out.

    a.k.a. I/O
    Quote Originally Posted by myresearch View Post
    I wasn't into every aspect of literature. However, I wrote poems since I was a child till I was 20. Hence, I considered studying literature or philosophy as well since I was very into it, I still am but not that much. However, I didn't take these considerations very seriously because as you said the success on these subjects are very depend on perception of others. Hence I also studied engineering.
    Always figured LII as decent writers, good grammar, not robotic. Journalists communicate, sometimes informally. I get fundamentals are part of the deal but college is is too sure of itself at times.

    I'm not alpha quadra but college English sucked. Lady asked me to write a persuasive essay. I brought facts she told me to f*ck off. Subjective nonsense. Point is, she wouldn't have been persuaded unless she "liked" it

    I figure college is best when a person really dig the subjects.

  22. #22
    FreelancePoliceman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    TIM
    LII-Ne
    Posts
    5,679
    Mentioned
    524 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Stray Cat View Post
    Always figured LII as decent writers, good grammar, not robotic. Journalists communicate, sometimes informally. I get fundamentals are part of the deal but college is is too sure of itself at times.

    I'm not alpha quadra but college English sucked. Lady asked me to write a persuasive essay. I brought facts she told me to f*ck off. Subjective nonsense. Point is, she wouldn't have been persuaded unless she "liked" it

    I figure college is best when a person really dig the subjects.

    IMO colleges should offer remedial grammar courses which most incoming students should have to take. Standards for English proficiency in incoming freshmen have dropped sharply in the past few decades, simply because those students’ understanding has dropped; schools wouldn’t be able to accept enough students without dropping standards.

    Intro English courses occupy a strange limbo: I don’t think they really teach anyone anything, because people with poor understanding of grammar and writing barely pick up on concepts that build on other concepts they’re unfamiliar with, while people with better understandings are bored out of their minds. Because of the pressure not to be failing everyone, teachers have to try to dumb down their curricula, but those curricula themselves aren’t really geared to correct the basic deficiencies in students’ knowledge. Students are shepherded through those classes without picking up on hardly anything, then are released to other professors who have to suffer their atrocious writing, and finally graduate never learning to put together a sentence, even though this was something they used to learn in high school.

  23. #23
    Stray Cat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    TIM
    SLE-Ti
    Posts
    816
    Mentioned
    107 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by FreelancePoliceman View Post
    IMO colleges should offer remedial grammar courses which most incoming students should have to take. Standards for English proficiency in incoming freshmen have dropped sharply in the past few decades, simply because those students’ understanding has dropped; schools wouldn’t be able to accept enough students without dropping standards.

    Intro English courses occupy a strange limbo: I don’t think they really teach anyone anything, because people with poor understanding of grammar and writing barely pick up on concepts that build on other concepts they’re unfamiliar with, while people with better understandings are bored out of their minds. Because of the pressure not to be failing everyone, teachers have to try to dumb down their curricula, but those curricula themselves aren’t really geared to correct the basic deficiencies in students’ knowledge. Students are shepherded through those classes without picking up on hardly anything, then are released to other professors who have to suffer their atrocious writing, and finally graduate never learning to put together a sentence, even though this was something they used to learn in high school.
    Maybe. I mean, reading, 'riting & 'rithmetic are relatively fundamental..

    College is too anal and pedantic about the English curriculum. Proficiency is good but is really just a manipulative tool. Writing is generally a medium to communicate with others in an effort to make a point. Cool. The more emphasis university pours into writing, the more obvious it is that manipulation is the true objective.

    If you'd like a scholarship, write an essay. If you want funding, write something compelling. If you want to be considered charismatic, write something fascinating. English competency can be very self-serving, perhaps immoral when taken to extremes (such as in universities)

  24. #24
    FreelancePoliceman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    TIM
    LII-Ne
    Posts
    5,679
    Mentioned
    524 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Stray Cat View Post
    Maybe. I mean, reading, 'riting & 'rithmetic are relatively fundamental..

    College is too anal and pedantic about the English curriculum. Proficiency is good but is really just a manipulative tool. Writing is generally a medium to communicate with others in an effort to make a point. Cool. The more emphasis university pours into writing, the more obvious it is that manipulation is the true objective.

    If you'd like a scholarship, write an essay. If you want funding, write something compelling. If you want to be considered charismatic, write something fascinating. English competency can be very self-serving, perhaps immoral when taken to extremes (such as in universities)
    Yeah, the other side of the coin is proficiency being used for that sort of intellectual pretension. I was a classics major in uni, and I noticed that a certain sort of person who studied that field felt it justified their inflated egos. Boris Johnson is a prime example. Probably it's influenced by an insecurity from having picked objectively poor fields of study if one's aim is to make money, but it's not helped that many people will often treat you with a kind of deferential awe if they find you can write well, or that you can read ancient Greek, though those same people may trash-talk their doctors, or look down on engineers or electricians. It takes a certain level of grounding to prevent that from going to your head, and that's not too common in young aspirant elites.

    Still, I don't think a risk that certain fields of study are used to gatekeep means they should be neglected. Language proficiency isn't good because it's a manipulative tool; it's good because it makes you less resistant to manipulation (or should, at least; in reality the educated are the most susceptible to propaganda), and because it helps you structure your own thoughts, and because it helps you communicate with others (or at least would if education weren't principally a means of dividing the classes). Similarly I don't think classical studies are important because being able to read Cicero puts you on another intellectual plane; they're important because Cicero was a bastard politician of a type that's still around today, and understanding that Antony did nothing wrong being able to understand how people in a much different world thought, felt, wrote, and controlled or were controlled by others deepens one's understanding of human nature and social organization.

    I don't mean that everyone should devote themselves specifically to writing or to classics; the world's big and there are plenty of other things to do. I myself hate to write. But a fundamental level of language proficiency and historical knowledge are good things, and should be promoted.

  25. #25
    Baqer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    TIM
    ILE-De
    Posts
    540
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Default

    School was nice. Living with conflictor parents it's always been nice to have a place to feel comfortable in. Generally all my classes were pretty pleasant to be in aside from literature(which was the one class where things almost always consistently felt like useless busy work). Best literature teacher I ever had was in 8th grade, he had a degree in journalism and seemed pretty ILE-ish from retrospective. In fact there have been alot of alpha teachers which I've seen over the years in school(especially in elementary and middle schools), which probably explains why the gamma equivalent of this thread includes alot more frustration than this one. Always tried to get into the hardest classes I could get into, because I found that the harder it was the more engaging, and doing busy work for a class where the topic was too easy made it so that I'd manage to get an A+ in an advanced Algebra 2, but only a A in health because I wasn't bothered to actually pay attention. There were 2 experiences that I had in school that I think really shaped my personality though, and formed me into a much weirder ILE than I would've been if I ended up staying roughly the same from elementary onwards. Both happened in middle school, in 7th grade.

    First was inside of my math and science classes(of which my high school offered us advanced versions of for 7th graders), where I managed to earn a reputation of being the smartest kid in the room. I had a nice teacher in math(possibly LII), who would teach, and I would immediately understand whatever they were talking about. I'd be able to hold casual conversation in the middle of class with him, really engage in a way no one else in the room could, so I ended up getting the nickname "robot". Since those people happened to be in my other classes, (including my science in which I also did very well), I was able to basically be put on top of the highest pedestal, having the kids in the "smart" class all praising me as the smartest. I was a pretty quiet and easy to miss kid before, but after that I became so high off my own ego. It died down by high school, but I've still got some of it in me, just the assumption that I'm smarter and more capable than everyone else. It wasn't really an expectation to me either, it just simply was, since I could just be my natural self and have people praise me for it, and even though I would always get good grades, they weren't what defined me as smart.

    Second was during an extracurricular I was, science olymiad. If any of you don't know what that is it's basically a kind of science competition where there's a bunch of events where you have to either answer questions or do activities. Overall I'd say it was very fun and stimulating for me, as the activities looking back required a college level understanding to really do. I did good too, the one subject I really got into was something that had to do with circuits, and I ended up getting a gold medal at regionals for it. It was very stressful and taxing though. I had nothing really done anything as big as that by that time, and so it was definitely a taste of what real hard work would be. One day, I was walking through the hallway to get from the computer room to work on something to the main room, and I saw one girl who was working on the hallway. I was walking with this other girl that I was working closely with on a couple of events, (who all I can really say concretely is that she was Fi polr), and before walking into the hallway I was thinking about how this girl who were about to walk past had somehow made us lose an event or something, idk I don't remember the specifics. The important thing though is that I decided I had to shame her for it. I walked down the hallway, talking to the other girl, and managed to maneuver the conversation in a way to maximize the impact, so that when we walked past her I said "ya [Name]" to basically blame her for our loss.

    I then went back, did my stuff and completely forgot about what I had just done, until a little while later I was called out and I got to figure out what happened. She had, unsurprisingly, a mental breakdown when combined with the stress and made me have an "oh god what the fuck have I done" moment. My Fi polr had inadvertently fucked up so bad that I had to realize I had just managed to truly hurt someone, and I felt an incredible sense of guilt. Still feel guilty about it honestly, but what really cemented in was what happened during the rest of year. I eventually went up and stood in front of her some days/weeks later for probably around a minute or two, where she got to lambast me and maximize the guilt as much as she could. Kept me there until I almost ended up crying myself, before another girl who was there got her to stop so that I got to go back to another room and cry silently by myself. When we went to state and I was so tired after it was over, I cried the whole way on the bus ride home with my thoughts to myself. The girl I was talking with became a nightmarish figure to me, in my very thin inventory of dreams that I remember I remember having one with her where I felt helplessly trapped with her in a restaurant where she acted almost like a demon in my mind. Thing is two that working with and sharing trauma with the two girls meant that they were the closely that I had ever experienced intimacy up to that point, and since it was so pivotal now I've got guilt installed into intimacy, so now those things have been linked in mind and will probably fuck at least a bit with my future relationships.

    So ya school was pretty fun overall.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •