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So, school is going well. (Really well, actually. Of four marks returned - admittedly three of which are only quizzes worth about 2% of my mark each - I've gotten 95% or higher.)
But I'm finding that because of that, I'm getting two reactions from a number of my classmates. Which one is weirder, I couldn't say.
The first is a kind of... idol-worship, to be honest. Like these powers of intelligence are beyond the ken of mere men. And especially now, as I get older and my thoughts on this have become a little less self-centered, I find it awkward, painful, kind of embarrassing, and honestly off-putting.
I keep trying to explain to people that I do well because, well, in the language of multiple-intelligences, I have a pretty stellar linguistic intelligence, which makes written tests easy. I can break down words into their Latin roots at the drop of a hat, making puzzling out, say, where the costochondral joints are vs. where the sternocostal joints are easy. (And this often means that even if I don't know an answer, I can guess with reasonable certainty at the correct one.)
Unfortunately, I can't seem to explain to people that while I am great at the Standardized Testing Intelligence, that doesn't 1) make me smarter than them; 2) doesn't make them stupid; 3) doesn't mean that they will never learn this information ever.
It's stressful being the standard everyone is holding themselves to (or a lot of them seem to be, anyway). It means that if I 'fail', there's either going to be despair ("how can I hope to do well") or gloating ("I did better than Alex!"). Neither of those are especially fun for me.
What makes it especially bad is that I can't show them how I do it. It just wouldn't work for most of them (I've tried showing them and it doesn't help them at all). Unfortunately, they're going to need to spend some time figuring out how they can best consume/process the info.
The second... is a low-grade teasing about my grades, which in some people feels like it masks a current of resentment. A lot of you probably recognize that, I think.
And me, I'm just like... guys, the only standard you need is the 70% required to pass the course. This isn't a bell curve; my grades are and should be irrelevant to you.
Maybe I'll try to just... not discuss it further.
But I'm finding that because of that, I'm getting two reactions from a number of my classmates. Which one is weirder, I couldn't say.
The first is a kind of... idol-worship, to be honest. Like these powers of intelligence are beyond the ken of mere men. And especially now, as I get older and my thoughts on this have become a little less self-centered, I find it awkward, painful, kind of embarrassing, and honestly off-putting.
I keep trying to explain to people that I do well because, well, in the language of multiple-intelligences, I have a pretty stellar linguistic intelligence, which makes written tests easy. I can break down words into their Latin roots at the drop of a hat, making puzzling out, say, where the costochondral joints are vs. where the sternocostal joints are easy. (And this often means that even if I don't know an answer, I can guess with reasonable certainty at the correct one.)
Unfortunately, I can't seem to explain to people that while I am great at the Standardized Testing Intelligence, that doesn't 1) make me smarter than them; 2) doesn't make them stupid; 3) doesn't mean that they will never learn this information ever.
It's stressful being the standard everyone is holding themselves to (or a lot of them seem to be, anyway). It means that if I 'fail', there's either going to be despair ("how can I hope to do well") or gloating ("I did better than Alex!"). Neither of those are especially fun for me.
What makes it especially bad is that I can't show them how I do it. It just wouldn't work for most of them (I've tried showing them and it doesn't help them at all). Unfortunately, they're going to need to spend some time figuring out how they can best consume/process the info.
The second... is a low-grade teasing about my grades, which in some people feels like it masks a current of resentment. A lot of you probably recognize that, I think.
And me, I'm just like... guys, the only standard you need is the 70% required to pass the course. This isn't a bell curve; my grades are and should be irrelevant to you.
Maybe I'll try to just... not discuss it further.
