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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007 |
FWIW, I'm intimately familiar with the kind of negativity and resentment that can come about from public test scores, and the stakes were a heckuva lot higher than grades or class ranking. I'm talking about military ranking here. I was promoted, and others, with a lot more experience, who thought they were more deserving, who were more personally invested in their careers, were not, and this was due almost entirely to my test score. There were even people higher up the food chain who were upset, and did take it out on me in some interesting ways.
I got over it, because being promoted was still better than not being promoted, and ultimately I proved that I truly did deserve it. The military is not like most corporate situations. I'm going with Val on this one.
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,856
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Joined: Oct 2011
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In my experience, you're not talking about the ones who are significantly smarter, just the ones who think they are. They intimidate coworkers not because they're smarter, but because they're obnoxious egomaniacs who never stop talking long enough to listen to people who are trying to communicate to them how very wrong they are. I don't think it's so black and white. Very smart people intimidate or otherwise engender negative reactions in people who aren't as smart without even being aware of it. Using "big words," long or complex sentences, and showing signs of nuanced thinking can all be interpreted as being an obnoxious egomaniac who's out to prove you're better than everyone else. So can arguing passionately about something. The smart person may have no idea that s/he's using "big words" because they're just everyday words to the speaker. And likewise, no clue that making a point based on evidence or logic may not be appreciated by others who have trouble following the logic. I never said it was black and white. I was obviously generalizing, and I prefaced it with "in my experience." Obviously, my experiences with people who are "significantly smarter" are different from the norm. They're rarer, and less significant. With that said, there are a number of ways a very intelligent person can communicate that are effective in avoiding negative feelings. First and foremost among them is remembering to have respect for each other, rather than assigning a personal value to an individual based on perceived intelligence. I don't care how "dumb" someone may seem, they know something that I don't. As an IT worker, I often have to extract some useful information from a clueless end user who doesn't even know they have the info I need, what "useful information" even looks like, etc. So I approach it from the perspective that they're the expert in their particular application or process, please educate me. The other guys I mentioned would generally have a different approach: "What did YOU do?!"
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,297
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,297 |
With that said, there are a number of ways a very intelligent person can communicate that are effective in avoiding negative feelings. First and foremost among them is remembering to have respect for each other, rather than assigning a personal value to an individual based on perceived intelligence.
I don't care how "dumb" someone may seem, they know something that I don't. You didn't answer my point. If you read my message carefully, you'll see that I didn't make claims about talking DOWN to others and assuming that the others are dumb. I said that very intelligent people often don't realize that they're talking over other people's heads (e.g. big words) or try to apply logic to a discussion in a way that doesn't make sense to others. The effect is to be seen as arrogant or egotistical, when this was not at all the case.
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,856
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,856 |
You didn't answer my point.
If you read my message carefully, you'll see that I didn't make claims about talking DOWN to others and assuming that the others are dumb.
I said that very intelligent people often don't realize that they're talking over other people's heads (e.g. big words) or try to apply logic to a discussion in a way that doesn't make sense to others. The effect is to be seen as arrogant or egotistical, when this was not at all the case. We're talking in a circle, then, because I've already addressed this point: You are not responsible for how other people feel... and you have no control over that, anyway. They do.
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,181
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I disagree. Waving one person's success at a group as a way of reprimanding the ones who didn't do as well is guaranteed to create resentment and other types of negativity. It's a way for an authority figure to say, "You guys are such stupid losers, but Joey here just so amazing and brilliant. He's a winner." You can't make a statement guaranteed to make people feel rotten about themselves and then blame them for feeling exactly the way that was intended. If they were as close then as they eventually ended up, they probably would have found out whether the instructor revealed it or not. If I were in a class with my significant other, I'd want to know how she did. FWIW, I'm intimately familiar with the kind of negativity and resentment that can come about from public test scores, and the stakes were a heckuva lot higher than grades or class ranking. I'm talking about military ranking here. I was promoted, and others, with a lot more experience, who thought they were more deserving, who were more personally invested in their careers, were not, and this was due almost entirely to my test score. There were even people higher up the food chain who were upset, and did take it out on me in some interesting ways. I got over it, because being promoted was still better than not being promoted, and ultimately I proved that I truly did deserve it. Hmm-- my apologies, I guess I was implying (but not overtly stating) that this was announced to the class as a whole. I didn't appreciate it. For the reason that Val touched upon earlier-- it was MY test score. MINE. Mine to share-- or not-- when, where, and in what manner I chose. I had that choice taken away from me.
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,007 |
Hmm-- my apologies, I guess I was implying (but not overtly stating) that this was announced to the class as a whole. I didn't appreciate it. For the reason that Val touched upon earlier-- it was MY test score. MINE. Mine to share-- or not-- when, where, and in what manner I chose.
I had that choice taken away from me. School systems generally think that your grades are their property since they are trying to sort you into the proper industrial category so that widget production can be maximized.
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,432
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I guess I never gave it much thought. However, it has been a pretty common practice in all my children's elementary classrooms. My kids don't really care one way or the other. I think it may be more of a problem in middle school and possibly in high school.
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