[Traditional Enneagram] Is This Consistent With Type 3?

[BlackDog]

I am curious to know if what I did is consistent with being type 3.

I was set to get an A in a difficult Honors class. But the professor had a policy that you must attend a certain number of classes; regardless of your knowledge, if you missed more than a certain number, you could only get a B. I deliberately missed the number of classes to prevent me from getting an A because I don't like being conditioned, and I wanted to let him know (and I did) that I valued independence of behavior far more than grades.

Is this consistent with type 3? Because I'd rather go out in flames than adhere to something I'm opposed to. Such as manipulation. Because he didn't need me to be there; it was a power play.

 

[HongDou]

Sounds more like just a value judgment to me.

 

[prplchknz]

I dunno but that was. Stupid thing to do your professor probably didn't think that was what you were doing, and if he did didn't care

 

[BlackDog]

I dunno but that was. Stupid thing to do your professor probably didn't think that was what you were doing, and if he did didn't care

Well, I made sure he did. Very politely. I suspect he did not care, but it was something I had to do. For reasons of personal principles. I wanted to show that there is at least one person who objects to academic conditioning.

 

[BlackDog]

Sounds more like just a value judgment to me.

That's exactly what it is, but I thought that the Enneagram was into explaining certain values.

 

[LadyLazarus]

I agree that it was a stupid as well as impulsive thing to do, and that is coming from me. But that's beside the point.
Anyway, in regards to what is actually being asked here; it sounds unhealthy e6 to me, if I had to correlate it to enneagram. It just sounds Fi-ish if anything to me, outside of enneagram. Like you made something that wasn't personal, personal and as mentioned; made a value judgement.

 

[Glycerine]

No. Teachers/profs do that to ensure students attend because with "most" students, there is a correlation between attendance and performance. 95% of my uni classes had attendance policies. You did it to yourself, dude....

 

[BlackDog]

No. Teachers/profs do that to ensure students attend because with "most" students, there is a correlation between attendance and performance. 95% of my uni classes had attendance policies. You did it to yourself, dude....

It was a personal principle. I don't regret it. If you do the work, you get the grade as your due. It isn't some favor handed down by the professor. The professors are power-tripping, and they need to see that they will hurt good students and not just sloppy students by implementing those policies. That's why I did it. To show solidarity with the students who missed inadvertently.

 

[Glycerine]

It was a personal principle. I don't regret it. If you do the work, you get the grade as your due. It isn't some favor handed down by the professor. The professors are power-tripping, and they need to see that they will hurt good students and not just sloppy students by implementing those policies. That's why I did it. To show solidarity with the students who missed inadvertently.

Cool but most traditional academic settings are like that though in my experience. Some profs I had had policies like "after 3 classes, every class you miss, you lose half a grade." Gotta go through hoops to get top grades.

 

[BlackDog]

I agree that it was a stupid as well as impulsive thing to do, and that is coming from me. But that's beside the point.
Anyway, in regards to what is actually being asked here; it sounds unhealthy e6 to me, if I had to correlate it to enneagram. It just sounds Fi-ish if anything to me, outside of enneagram. Like you made something that wasn't personal, personal and as mentioned; made a value judgement.

Well, see, unhealthy e6 is one of the things I've considered for myself. I wouldn't naturally do something like that, but it wasn't impulsive. I planned it from the beginning of the semester. I saw that policy, and knew I had to do my best to show the professor an example of a good student hurt by it.

So, I went out of my way to be a model student in the small class. And I succeeded. I'm good at looking 'impressive', which is why I thought I was e3.

I then missed a number of classes, three of them. On the fourth miss, I would lose a letter grade. So I emailed him explaining why I missed. And he said "You'll get an A if you don't miss anymore classes, just show up". So I did until the second-to-last class, when I deliberately missed. And I emailed him saying that it was nothing personal, I liked the class and his teaching style, but I couldn't compromise my principles.

See, I had a fear that I might be losing my integrity, so I had to show myself in that example that I was capable of making a stand on something, and unnecessarily losing out for the sake of a random principle.

 

[BlackDog]

Cool but most traditional academic settings are like that though in my experience. Some profs I had had policies like "after 3 classes, every class you miss, you lose half a grade." Gotta go through hoops to get top grades.

This guy's policy was that you lose a grade after 3 classes. I want top grades, but since this professor is just about the only one at my university who does that, I couldn't let that policy go without a demonstration.

 

[Glycerine]

This guy's policy was that you lose a grade after 3 classes. I want top grades, but since this professor is just about the only one at my university who does that, I couldn't let that policy go without a demonstration.

Have you considered e1? It's seems very e1 (if we are going by stereotypes...). There is a common misidentification between 3 and 1. 1's are about "doing the right thing" according to their own standards (principles) and 3's are more about efficiency and image. Both tend to be very perfectionistic esp. 3w4 and 1w?.

 

[skylights]

That reasoning doesn't strike me as very 3... Maybe 6, 8, 4 ish? Seems reactive? Or 1 like Glycerine said, maybe 1/9.

Obviously it's your choice and if you feel good about it, then I guess you've gotten what you wanted, but it seems sort of like self-sabotage to me. If you've consented to utilizing the university system and therefore their grading scale, why resist to this particular policy? If there were a serious reason to miss class, like medical absence or family death, the university administration typically grants allowances. It would seem more useful to protest formally within the system rather than subverting your own grade... I get that this way you could have some agency and decide something for yourself but in the long run I'm not sure I see that the message of "I resist academic conditioning" is really going to get through to the world. Like... have you told any decision-makers that this is why you did that? If your prof never hears from you, he has no reason to think you had any other thought process than not caring enough...

 

[BlackDog]

Have you considered e1? It's seems very e1 (if we are going by stereotypes). There is a common misidentification between 3 and 1.

I have. My problem with that is a weak moral sense. I could do absolutely anything, or nearly anything, if I framed it in my own mind the right way. So, for example, since my own success is the goal, I have to watch myself lest I begin to use other people indiscriminately. I think that overall trajectory seems 3ish. That is why I made that particular stand to deliberately hurt myself, because I don't want to lose my integrity, which I think I could easily do since I'm driven by success. I think . . . It is very hard to know what I'm driven by, though. I'm driven by a lot of stuff.

 

[BlackDog]

That reasoning doesn't strike me as very 3... Maybe 6, 8, 4 ish? Seems reactive? Or 1 like Glycerine said, maybe 1/9.

Obviously it's your choice and if you feel good about it, then I guess you've gotten what you wanted, but it seems sort of like self-sabotage to me. If you've consented to utilizing the university system and therefore their grading scale, why resist to this particular policy? If there were a serious reason to miss class, like medical absence or family death, the university administration typically grants allowances. It would seem more useful to protest formally within the system rather than subverting your own grade... I get that this way you could have some agency and decide something for yourself but in the long run I'm not sure I see that the message of "I resist academic conditioning" is really going to get through to the world. Like... have you told any decision-makers that this is why you did that? If your prof never hears from you, he has no reason to think you had any other thought process than not caring enough...

Yes, I told the prof. He liked me as a student, and I worked hard to get that status so that when I sabotaged my grade, he would pay a little bit of attention. He cared enough, in the last class, to point out by name all the students who only missed one or no classes (which was 66% of them).

I really wanted him to not want to down my grade, but to have to because of that policy. And I think I succeeded. Someday, if another student like me takes his class, he might change his policy. I've done my part,though.

I am not an 8. Not nearly physical enough. I'm an INFJ, anyhow. I guess I could be 6; I'm pretty sure I'm not a 4, though, because I'm less of an individualist, and more of a person with a social consciousness/conscience. I'm really into studying society because I want to contribute some valuable insight someday. In my own circle.

 

[Glycerine]

Yes, I told the prof. He liked me as a student, and I worked hard to get that status so that when I sabotaged my grade, he would pay a little bit of attention. He cared enough, in the last class, to point out by name all the students who only missed one or no classes (which was 66% of them).

I really wanted him to not want to down my grade, but to have to because of that policy. And I think I succeeded. Someday, if another student like me takes his class, he might change his policy. I've done my part,though.

I am not an 8. Not nearly physical enough. I'm an INFJ, anyhow. I guess I could be 6; I'm pretty sure I'm not a 4, though, because I'm less of an individualist, and more of a person with a social consciousness/conscience. I'm really into studying society because I want to contribute some valuable insight someday. In my own circle.

Well, the only reason why I would really do that would be to self-sabotage because I don't feel committed so it gives me an "out" to seek other avenues... not really "out of principle".

If I thought it was a stupid rule, I would twist it to my advantage or not deal with the professor... I would have dropped the class and picked another "honors" class.

 

[skylights]

Yes, I told the prof. He liked me as a student, and I worked hard to get that status so that when I sabotaged my grade, he would pay a little bit of attention. He cared enough, in the last class, to point out by name all the students who only missed one or no classes (which was 66% of them).

I really wanted him to not want to down my grade, but to have to because of that policy. And I think I succeeded. Someday, if another student like me takes his class, he might change his policy. I've done my part,though.

I am not an 8. Not nearly physical enough. I'm an INFJ, anyhow. I guess I could be 6; I'm pretty sure I'm not a 4, though, because I'm less of an individualist, and more of a person with a social consciousness/conscience. I'm really into studying society because I want to contribute some valuable insight someday. In my own circle.

Ahh okay. I'm glad you said something to him. It's an interesting philosophy and decision to me. Your last comment sounds 6/5.