I've been thinking about this before, but I ran into a case of it again, recently, so I decided to think about it publicly, for a change. Here it is: most people are more than willing to hide their knowledge in order to look cool.
I'm a med student, so are a lot of my friends. Not all that surprising. In order to get into med school, we all had to be pretty good in our previous education, and thanks to the way we do things, our previous level of education was the almighty, confidence-destroying high school. Where, I dare say, most of us were at the top of our classes with little or no effort and we all had ample opportunity to show that we know everything we need to know and more. Except we didn't, because in high school, showing that you know stuff can be dangerous. Apparently, the concept of "my knowledge is good for me" is way too difficult for most teenagers to grasp, so knowing something more than the others is, clearly, a case of being a nerd and merely trying to impress the teacher.
Before that, there was primary school, with a similar outlook on things, but less impact on one's self-esteem if people thought someone was a nerd. Little kids just don't care, you see.
So my current set of friends are supposedly grown up people, trying to be successful academically, who know that they're studying for their own good, not because the teacher said so. Supposedly. But in reality, we're still a bunch of "nerds", who had to make darn sure, all through high school, that we didn't let on all we knew. Because that would equal being uncool, and somehow that means you're trying to put your classmates down, and you're kissing up to the teacher. The lot.
I've seen more than enough examples of people who knew the answer and wouldn't give it. Who would rather endure that embarrassing silence, when everyone knows that a lot of people know the answer, but are all afraid of being uncool. When the teacher, slightly out of touch with the workings of a young adult mind, has no choice but to assume we're all a bunch of idiots for not knowing this.
I've done all that a lot. All the time while I was doing it, I wondered why I would rather be "an idiot", than "the nerd". In high school, this was quite acceptable. Lots of people were idiots back then, I'd have plenty of company. Right now, this is just plain stupid behaviour that makes me look unprepared in the eyes of the people who are supposed to write recommendations for my residency application someday. And yet, I still prefer being "the idiot". Well, maybe that really makes me an idiot.
PS: Yeah, life's been busy. You can tell, right?
I'm a med student, so are a lot of my friends. Not all that surprising. In order to get into med school, we all had to be pretty good in our previous education, and thanks to the way we do things, our previous level of education was the almighty, confidence-destroying high school. Where, I dare say, most of us were at the top of our classes with little or no effort and we all had ample opportunity to show that we know everything we need to know and more. Except we didn't, because in high school, showing that you know stuff can be dangerous. Apparently, the concept of "my knowledge is good for me" is way too difficult for most teenagers to grasp, so knowing something more than the others is, clearly, a case of being a nerd and merely trying to impress the teacher.
Before that, there was primary school, with a similar outlook on things, but less impact on one's self-esteem if people thought someone was a nerd. Little kids just don't care, you see.
So my current set of friends are supposedly grown up people, trying to be successful academically, who know that they're studying for their own good, not because the teacher said so. Supposedly. But in reality, we're still a bunch of "nerds", who had to make darn sure, all through high school, that we didn't let on all we knew. Because that would equal being uncool, and somehow that means you're trying to put your classmates down, and you're kissing up to the teacher. The lot.
I've seen more than enough examples of people who knew the answer and wouldn't give it. Who would rather endure that embarrassing silence, when everyone knows that a lot of people know the answer, but are all afraid of being uncool. When the teacher, slightly out of touch with the workings of a young adult mind, has no choice but to assume we're all a bunch of idiots for not knowing this.
I've done all that a lot. All the time while I was doing it, I wondered why I would rather be "an idiot", than "the nerd". In high school, this was quite acceptable. Lots of people were idiots back then, I'd have plenty of company. Right now, this is just plain stupid behaviour that makes me look unprepared in the eyes of the people who are supposed to write recommendations for my residency application someday. And yet, I still prefer being "the idiot". Well, maybe that really makes me an idiot.
PS: Yeah, life's been busy. You can tell, right?