[NT] How well did/do you do in school?

[Ivy]

Only in America.

Really? They're certainly not the norm here, so I was assuming they existed in other places but weren't the norm there either.

The Reggio Emilio approach started in Italy, I think. Same with Montessori, although I think the "classic" style is unnecessarily rigid- I visited one to see if it was a good fit for my daughter, and I was a bit put off by the teacher correcting children on the right way to play this or that. I also understand that Waldorf schools are common in Europe, although they have another set of problems altogether.

 

[celesul]

I like school, though I used to dislike it. In preschool and kindergarten, I went to a Montessori school where we learned stuff like long multiplication or a lot of geography really early. It was fun though, because we had beads and maps to help, and we chose what to learn. The teachers let us do what we wanted most of the time too. We were all just really curious. I think I mostly learned math there, while my sister liked geography more.

Then I went to a school I hated. They had rigid memorization and everything. For 3rd I switched to my current school. It's private, and the elementary school was ok, but still very strict. I didn't realize how strict it was until more recently, when I saw what normal elementary school kids do. I didn't do very well at first, because I'm bad at simple memorization.

In fifth grade, I wasn't doing that well, but my math teacher figured out that I understood the material, but I had trouble computing because I got distracted in the middle of a problem, and then restarted it in the wrong place. He put me in a math class that had about 30 kids and met once a week to teach more advanced math. The kids who passed it, about 10 of us, got put in the advanced track. Because my school is rather small, it only tracked math until high school. My school gradually becomes more relaxed the higher the grade, which suits me. I had trouble until I started ADD meds, because I couldn't concentrate.

I'm now in 10th grade, and one of the top in my grade. I'm good at standardixed tests, because by crossreferencing questions I can figure out the answer with a bit of common sense. I'm not the kid who studies nonstop, but the kid who figures out the most efficent way of getting straight A's. Last year I figured out what grade I needed on each final to end up with an A. So I studied a few hours for 1 final, but the others I just reviewed a bit. I didn't study at all for math or vocab because I could have gotten as low as a B- and get an A in the class, and I know all the vocab from reading novels. I actually got a B- on th math final.

 

[wildcat]

Really? They're certainly not the norm here, so I was assuming they existed in other places but weren't the norm there either.

The Reggio Emilio approach started in Italy, I think. Same with Montessori, although I think the "classic" style is unnecessarily rigid- I visited one to see if it was a good fit for my daughter, and I was a bit put off by the teacher correcting children on the right way to play this or that. I also understand that Waldorf schools are common in Europe, although they have another set of problems altogether.

I thought the only Waldorf I know is the Astor house at 301 Park Avenue. Now I see you mean the Steiner school.
Yes, we had the Steiner and the Montessori schools originally. Unfortunately we had a longtime Marxist cabinet minister for education. He refused to renew the permits to any of the private schools. He said only state can be allowed to teach. At the same time the state schools deteriorated badly.

The one thing I remember at school was a large painting of Pestalozzi on the wall of the school lobby. I understand the ideas were formed after him.
Something went wrong on the way.

Neither my father nor my brother or my daughter or me learned anything at school.
I learned to swim, however. That is because swimming was not a part of the school curriculum in my day.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

I always managed to get barely high enough grades to enter the most prestigious educational facilities in my country. In all the school levels I went, there were always people who fared better, tho.

 

[Veneti]

I always managed to get barely high enough grades to enter the most prestigious educational facilities in my country. In all the school levels I went, there were always people who fared better, tho.

Thats not always a bad thing though, if you have that competitive spirit then you keep trying harder... its not till after graduation when you continue learning on the same trajectory that you go way beyond your "equals" at school/university etc.

 

[ygolo]

I always managed to get barely high enough grades to enter the most prestigious educational facilities in my country. In all the school levels I went, there were always people who fared better, tho.

IIT?

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

IIT?

Sorry, I dont get you. Mind explaining what you ment?

 

[ygolo]

Sorry, I don't get you. Mind explaining what you ment?

Sorry, I meant was your school an Indian Institute of Technology?

But I guessed your country wrong.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Sorry, I meant was your school an Indian Institute of Technology?

But I guessed your country wrong.

I live in Finland, and none of our universities are particularly sought-after world-wide, so it's not that a big deal. We do care greatly about education nationally, tho.

I got accepted to both the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University of Technology, where I applied, and I chose to enter the latter. I recall being sorry that there was one Master's Programme that had higher entrance requirements than the one I entered, implying a lower than the highest standard of teaching.

I thought at that time that any person with a measure of skill or talent should be fiercly competetive and open about it, and wondered what bullshit this "humbleness" thing was.

I am nuts when I still sometimes irrationally get on the mood that I or my company or organization have to be the best. I consider that one of my greatest character flaws, if I ever notice myself thinking like that anymore in a place where it's not welcomed. I dont know where I got it that I have to compete and be a total self-important ass while doing it.

I still love the feeling of competition, provided that it's in a good place. The collection of such places has grown thin lately. I'm more inclined to co-operate at this age of 29, or just hide my competetive tendencies in some situations.

This was such a problem earlier, that when national statistics were compiled and graduates of another school turned out to have slightly (1%) greater income, my school lost much of its prestige in my eyes.

I'm serious with this, I dont know what made me like that. Doing retrospective analysis of my problems, I suspect something along the lines of OC and/or narcissism, or just plain old-fashioned being good at young age and getting too much used to it. Being good in chosen interests and being blind to other interests, I might add.

Hm, I did went grossly out of topic.

Perhaps I should bring the topic of competetiveness to another thread.

Shoot me

 

[thirtyfour]

Strange. While I am good at school, I've found myself much more easily adaptable to the working realm. Might this be realted to activity levels? Extraverts have it easier on entry-level jobs that require less intellectual prowess but more moving capacity and higher workloads in a given amounts of time. Introverts fare slightly better in academic settings where they are allowed to think problems more thoroughly - a soft spot of mine has always been excessive speed in problem solving which, in school, leads to not perfect marks, but at the workplace seems to be appreciated since approximation is enough to guarantee results.

I certainly think that Eness (and Jness most certainly) have a lot to do with it. I don't think I'm bad at work (especially the kind of work I do, they let me sit in an office and just research and write) I just don't enjoy it that much. I actually liked school.

 

[niffer]

I think this is worth mentioning:

I *extremely* like doing homework. The completion of each question, paragraph, or project makes me feel giddy with accomplishment.

The fact that I am getting a good eductation makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. To me, my own ability to read and write still seems almost incomprehensibly awesome.

 

[Schizm]

I did alright in high school but decided to stop caring junior and senior year. In college, I had no direction and even more than being bored with certain classes I didn't have a clue what i wanted to do. I ended up dropping out but if I go back now I will sure as hell go back for something to do with design. Everything else can piss off. In elementary school, I was put in the gifted glasses. Honestly, I wish this had never happened because I would of never considered myself intelligent and I would be perfectly happy with how far I went academically.

 

[Ms. M]

I did well from elementary school through college, particularly in the classes I enjoyed...it wasn't until graduate school, when I was juggling both work and classes, that I struggled and ended up in the middle of the class.

 

[Mempy]

I usually get straight A's. I didn't my freshman and sophomore years of high school, but I did my junior and senior years, and I brought my GPA up to 3.4 by graduation (a B+ average for those who don't know). If I'd made the grades all four years that I did my last two years, I'd have probably been in the top 5-15% of my class, which is saying a little something because I attended a high school with over 3000 kids. I'm not always a rigorous student, but most of the time I am. I'm about to start college in a day or two and I really don't know if I'm going to get all A's, or what college is like even.

 

[lol_nl]

I'm in High School/Secondary school/whatever you want to call it in Holland, and I'm doing great, possibly one of the best, if not the best, of the class, and I'm already doing the highest possbile level in the Netherlands (see Education in the Netherlands).

I went to a bad primary school in a working class area with all working class kids. Nevertheless, I got the highest possible score for the CITO-test (which is a sort of SAT test, but then for elementary school students going to secondary school).

In secondary school, I remained at the top of the class, although, depending on the subject though, I didn't and don't work very hard. I don't dislike homework, unless the questions are utterly stupid and terrible. My memory, however, isn't bad at all and I am actually very good at rote learning, though I never enjoy it very much... and it usually 'decays' through time. I can hardly remember the history, geography and other very "factual" stuff I learnt in the first form.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm an INTJ after all... Most fellow INTPs I know don't do well at school, despite being very smart. One of my INTP classmates has an IQ of about 150, but nearly fails most classes.

 

[Helfeather]

I've always found that if I put effort in school, I did extremely well, otherwise I would just pass.

Throughout my experience w/ education, I find that I would have cycles of booms and bust where if I paid attention and put effort, I would often be the top student of the class, and when I didn't, I was often the troublemaker.

I never did well in stuff I wasn't interested in or saw any value in.

Does anyone else have similar experiences like this?

 

[INTJMom]

I got mostly As in elementary school.
Middle school years were the worst years of my life. I got mostly As & Bs and an occasional C.
My 4 year average in high school (because I did the math) was 86%.
My only A in high school was in Geometry.

 

[nightning]

Interesting patterns we have here... I think the general consensus is if we like the subject/teacher we do very well... if we find it boring we go meh! and semi flunk it. Therefore school performance is correlated to subject interests for Ns while I'm guessing it's correlated to effort put in for Ss?

Nothing special about my school career.
- Elementary to highschool: darn cocky brat/teacher's pet who insists on asking questions that I know perfectly well the teacher couldn't quite answer.
- Undergrad in college: Got a rude awakening that I'm not so smart afterall. That progressively gotten turned into questioning myself why people think I'm a good student when I don't think I know anything. I still did fairly well in case you're wondering... 3.8 GPA in a competitive program. Very typical test taking skills for INXJs... get most of the concepts but couldn't recall some minor details/misread some question due to the lack of S. *shrugs* What can I say? I can't help it.
- Now I'm starting my Masters... and I'm thinking to myself, how on earth did I end up in this?

 

[ladypinkington]

How well I did in school was COMPLETELY dependent on my emotional enviornment in school or what my relationship with my teachers was like.

If a teacher didn't seem to care about me and wasn't affirming or encouraging of me then I would get C's, D's and even a few F's. I would not be motivated at all- my motivation and ambition was conttrolled by the teacher's acceptance and attention towards me. I remember having horrible cold teachers who were even insulting of me- and I was a loving respectful child but I was very different from most children and probably too nonsensical and just plain weird and sensitive for the no nonsense types. I had a very Bohemian childhood one could say and I liked to stand out and be different and embraced my individuality and usually the teachers that I had the most problems with were from the small town south and just did not like me at all. My grades were always terrible in places like that with people like that,lol.

If a teacher was loving to me and encouraging and affirming to me then I would be a straight A student. I remember having all my teachers absolutely love me in the 8th grade- I had teachers love me in other places and other grades but these teachers were just the best of the best and the sweetest of the sweet -this was in Louisville KY and I did so well I got a presidential certificate of excellence from the president and a plaque from them. I am motivated by affirmation- I want to do well to get more of it once someone shows me it first and gives me a taste of it, then I'm hooked. I have to be accepted and appreciated first- then I'll keep coming back for more and will do what it takes to keep it coming without sacrificing who I am- I think that is why I have to be accepted first- because that way I can still be me but be motivated and ambitious.

I never went to high school because certain unfortunate things happened that required me to financially support my family which was my mother and myself. I did contruction and fast food.

I wish I wasn't so controlled by my emotions that way I could not let a teacher's rejection or indifference of me dictate my grades.

I even noticed that when I worked- I was still a hard worker no matter what- but the nicer the boss the more I put into it.

 

[INTJMom]

How well I did in school was COMPLETELY dependent on my emotional enviornment in school or what my relationship with my teachers was like. ...

My ENFJ son is like that.
If the believes his teacher "hates" him he can't do well in that class.
He's actually sensitive on behalf of other kids too, so that the teacher "yelling" at other kids causes him to feel badly also, and can de-motivate him.