Pretending.

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When I was a second year university student, I used to answer whatever questions I could in the academic forums. Once, I chatted (on IRC I think) with some fellow students in my Operating Systems unit, who were studying via an overseas partner institute. They started asking me questions to clarify assignment specifications, due dates, etc. and I answered as best I could, but I was a little confused as to why they asked me. It turned out that, based on my forum posts, they thought I was staff. I would ask a lot of questions (sometimes, that others thought were "nitpicking", but were important distinctions to me) and I'm sure it irritated a few people, staff and students alike, but I figured that we were at university to study computers in depth and if they weren't as interested as me, that was their fault and not mine. Frankly, I was shocked to arrive at university and find so few people who were studying computers because they were deeply interested in how they worked as opposed to making big bucks (this was just before the dot-com bust) sitting in front of a screen.

At school when I was younger, though, yes, I would withdraw a little in that regard to avoid reprisals from other kids. So yes, I know what you're talking about.

I have often had this, a few months ago I was stuck in some kind of jobskills waste of time and a question came up (sort of like a logic test) that made it clear the tutors were trying to find out how resourceful and if we could figure out stuff logically...

Basically it was something to do with being stuck on a mountain having crashlanded in a blizzard what 5 items would we take from the 12 available, given that the most valuable of the items that would help the most had the lowest score up to 12 (1 to 12) and something like 25 would be considered a pass or at least not a complete screw up...it was designed by the SAS; elite British forces.

I had to sit with the most stupid people on the course, for some reason they thought it would be a good idea to take the compass even though they didn't have a clue of where they were to start with, some chocolate so they might stave off hunger for 2 minutes and a bottle of whiskey...and a bloody 9mm gun.

To say I wasn't impressed is an understatement lol

I chose extra layers of clothes, a tarp, newspapers, lighter and something else I cannot remember, but I am sure it would've been helpful.

I find a lot of people stupid, but often I have learnt it is better to not say anything at all, unless they make me look stupid by proxy. I do not mind not knowing something as that gives me opportunity to learn, what I cannot stand is people pretending they do know when they clearly do not.

If you want to do the test i cannot find it, but this one is similar

http://neyture.info/teachered/space/moon.html

People for some reason do not like it when the same student keeps answering the questions and no other student does. Usually the teacher will tell the student to let other students answer. The teacher may quit calling on the same student and call on others instead.

I don't think this is about having to play dumb, it's about letting other students get the chance to answer and not hog up all the questions. It's not playing dumb when you let others have a turn. You don't need to pretend you don't know or pretend you aren't that smart by getting answers wrong on purpose on school work or dumbing it down so you don't appear as smart. That's not it at all. It's about letting others getting the chance to answer or else it's showing off.

Last edited by League_Girl on 24 Nov 2011, 6:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes... people have gotten mad at me for being good at things. It's not my fault that I'm smarter than you! xD

Yes but the other students hardly ever post, and they certainly don't seem very curious about the subject. I have yet another curiosity and now I am not comfortable posting it. Last night I was reading about neurons, the nervous system and plasticity. There is a form of plasticity called wind-up where neurons change and become sensitised (from what I can tell from my initial readings). I was curious as to whether there is a process of wind-down and if that would play a role in increasing a persons tolerance to pain.

I will have to go to the library I guess.

I have a lot of curiosity. I cannot learn in an environment where I cannot explore said curiosity. I hate just routinely memorising text I like to explore it. My course is not as much fun as I thought it would be in that way because I can't explore with anyone. Guess I will have to do it on my own as usual. I always end up having to do everything on my own. The text I was given for the course does not mention wind-down or the possibility of it...but I would have thought if the nervous system can physically change to become more sensitised the opposite can happen too.

If I post again to try and discuss the issue (whether I am on the right track or not...I won't know until I have explored it) then people will complain about my making too many posts and posting too many questions

Does anybody here know if there is a wind-down when it comes to plasticity of the nervous system?

Last edited by bumble on 24 Nov 2011, 6:32 am, edited 2 times in total.

But the threads were about exploring how perceptions of pain differ between individuals. I was merely opening the points up for discussion. I was hoping that others would pick up on that and get into a more in depth discussion regarding the points in terms of how and why people experience pain differently and whether or not they agreed with my lines of thought. I was looking for debate and feedback, not just giving answers flat out. I thought the point of the thread was to 'discuss' the issue.

That did not happen and I am feeling very disappointed as I was so looking forward to a full on debate and discussion. The subject is a very fascinating one and it would have been fun to really explore it.

Plus I posted a lot of questions because I am a very curious person and none of those where picked up on for further discussion either.

I just feel really sad about it because a good discussion would have been fun and would have allowed me to explore the subject and my ideas in more depth. I guess I have to stick to exploring my ideas in more depth by myself

See in regards to the adaptive value of plasticity of the nervous system in regards to how it relates to pain the books says: "From adaptive considerations, would it have been better if those regions underlying pain were unable to display plasticity? Indeed , it might well have been..."

But if there is such a thing as wind-down then it may well actually have some adaptive value in regards to pain. No wind-up or chronic pain may well be an evolutionary trade off that is not adaptive but wind-down might be, as it would allow people to develop a higher level of tolerance to pain.

I am really just trying to explore the idea because I am not sure I agree 100% with the book see...

I think that's why my daughter's teachers are confused by her and have placed her in the average groups (when they really know she's much more capable than that). She doesn't get that the teachers are asking questions to test the kids, to find out what they know.

I'm not smarter than the average person, so I never had this. I've had people getting fed up with me because of me not knowing anything.

Also I am new to that kind of attitude when it comes to academic institutions (except at school). I have had that attitude from work colleagues because I was praised by management for my ability to do my job, I got that attitude from other children in school and I have had that attitude from the public in general on occasion but never ever from a University. I was seen as one of their brightest students and respected for that. In class at a regular University you would put your hand up and the teacher would pick who she wanted to answer. On a forum board where there is an open discussion and a teacher has asked you to 'discuss' your thoughts regarding perceptions of pain it's a slightly different scenario. It wasn't like a maths quiz where she was asking what 15 X 22 is (330) where there is only one correct answer. It was a discussion where there are many right answers or different perspectives.

When I spoke to the tutor about it she said "the other students see someone who is posting all the answers and they feel intimidated"

I merely posted a list of variables that I thought were relevant to the discussion, an informational post about a documentary I had seen about pain in case the other students wanted to watch it, a couple of questions I had similar to the one about plasticity I posted above and one post apologising for a run of 3 posts in a row as I had to add something to the said posts and there was no edit function so I could not go back and add it on to the end of one of my last posts...I had to create a new post instead!

I was an A average at University and on previous further education courses and rather than the students being intimidated by me they would come to me if they needed help with their assignments. I was always happy to try and help them. Now its like being back at school again where I am being chastised for my ability.

It's like saying I was responsible for the bullying because I was smart and that intimidated the other children.

With all due respect I am not personally responsible for other peoples lack of self esteem and confidence issues just because I am or was smart. And how is it fair on me? I apparently have to quash my ability so it doesn't wound their delicate ego? WTF

I am all for considering peoples feelings but that is taking it too far!

Its a forum, they can post any time they want. I am not physically stopping them posting their answers or ideas...they can still have their say and provide input. They could have even engaged with my posts and discussed the points I made but they did not.

It doesn't matter as I am changing degrees and if I continue to get that kind of attitude from the Open University I will go elsewhere to get my damned degree. Some Universities might actually appreciate my ability rather than expect me to quash it.

Antibiotic resistance is definitely an issue, perhaps most seriously in terms of antibiotics to animals in factory farming. Also, pharmaceutical companies don't have as many new antibiotics in the pipeline, I think in part because it's not as profitable as drugs like antidepressants which will be taken every day for a while, years, sometimes a lifetime. And I am open to the idea of antidepressants. I like progress. It's just I want a more realistic ping-ponging dialogue between patient and providers, which may not be accomplished just on one visit.

Okay, I also like the idea of probiotics, clearly the helpful bacteria in the gut, but also perhaps the neutral bacteria in the nasal passages which take up the available real estate and keep the harmful ones out (no receptor sites as my professor has said).

With lyme, the doctors who specialize in infectious disease, and I think they call these board certified specialists a 'college,' a committee was tasked to come up with a protocol for treating lyme. Nothing wrong with that. And they did. The problem came when the thing then became etched in stone. Longterm antibiotics seem to help some patients get better. Why do we then become sticks-in-the-mud and moralists (in a bad way) in this area when we so freely use antibiotics in other areas? And I don't think it's a rational answer. I think it's just the way things developed and now the institution doesn't want to acknowledge the possibility of a mistake.

====================

For tuberculosis, antibiotics are recommended longterm, like for six months or even a year or more. That is standard medical practice, and not controversial. Here's my question: So the antibiotic doesn't really kill the microbe, it keeps it from reproducing? ? (like interfering with cell membrane formation, and bacteria cell different from bodily cell). So for a fast-living, fast-dying bacteria this can be short-course, and for slow-living, it needs to be long-course? And I'm really asking. I don't know. This is a basic question.

A frequent recommendation for tuberculosis is DOTS, for stands for Direct Observed . . . Because patient often stops taking. I wished this was viewed more as
DOTS coaching (coaching and supporting the patient)
DOTS + (meaning if we have the time or resources to test the microbe and find it to be antibiotic-resistant certain drugs, we can immediately move on to something else)

Again, I am not a doctor. Just interested in this stuff.

And if you're a young person, have you thought about medical school? A rich assortment of different specialties you might choose from.

The same thing still happens to me in school (I am in my last year of college).

I always know the answers, but the professors get mad if you answer every question. But it bothers me to think I know the answer but I'm not allowed to raise my hand.

I also have the problem that, during lectures, hypothetical questions and connections pop into my head at an alarming rate. So I keep wanting to raise my hand and ask the professor, "What about...?" but they always get annoyed with me. Now I've started setting limits for myself, like, after I speak, I have to wait for seven other people to speak before I do again. I feel like that's a good limit, where the professor won't be annoyed with me.

I think in the past I've "dumbed down" my speech in order to make some of my friends more comfortable. I would use big words, and they would laugh and stuff, so of course I felt anxiety, and eventually stopped using such big words. I also remember in math class a classmate didn't understand something, and I said isn't it obvious!? This is easy!! I was frustrated cause I was ready to move on and this classmate was holding me back! The teacher was pretty quick to put me in my place though.. And of course I felt terrible about it after he sent me out to the hall..
Also correcting the teacher on misused words and phrases was a bad habit of mine in grade school..

Oh yeah, there is also correcting teachers. But I think that teachers should really know how to spell and should know the facts they are teaching. When I was a freshman in high school, I had an English teacher write "Napolean" on the board. When I pointed it out to her, she acted all condescending and said, "Well, I'm SURE I have the correct spelling, but I'll look it up for you." But sure enough, she did not have the correct spelling.

Yes, I've had to hold myself back a lot in life to make it less obvious how much I know, just so that others won't feel stupid or threatened and have hard feelings, treat me bad or try to get me into trouble because of it.

I think I started doing this in college, after some of my teachers asked me to let my classmates try to answer some of their questions. They knew that I knew the answers, but wanted the rest of the class to be more involved, so I learned to hold back sometimes. Later on, in the workplace, I realized that other people sometimes saw me as some sort of a threat because I knew more than they did or had some skills they didn't and they hated looking stupid/incompetent, so I learned that it was probably in my own best interest to hold back and not show my skills or knowledges too much.

When I was in community college, I took a remedial writing class because my writing skills suck coming right out of high school. It was not helped when I had to spend time at a special education school (SED school - that is because teachers have had to spend more time taking care of kids who are out of control than teaching the material). The teacher was teaching the class how to write more complex sentences that what I am used to writing. She was teaching a lot of independent/dependent clauses used in sentence structure and stressing sentence variety in writing papers. Well, I knew a lot of the answers to the questions that the teacher asked that pertains to the class material, so I raised my hand frequently. In fact, I knew so many the answer that the teacher told me to put my hand down because she thought I had my hand up once too many times.

Also, when I was in a four-year college as a transfer student, I took an Intro Microeconomics course because I was considering an actuarial career as a career possibility at that time. The TA has explained things so well that I felt like an overachiever of that class. So during a final exam review class, the teacher asked a question that the final exam is covering and I know the answer. After I got my hand up, she said "I know you know everything", and called on another student to answer.

When I was a sophomore in high school, we were reviewing for a personal clothing class (basic in-depth sewing class) final exam. So when teachers asked questions regarding the class material, I blurted the answer that I knew without looking at my notes. Soon a girl in the class yelled to the class that I was going to pass the final as if she seems to think that she is going to fail it.

Last, but not least, a girl used to call me a loser until she and I were put in the same algebra class. Once she found out on her own that I am not the dumb that she made me out to be, she seemed to regret bullying me. That was in high school.

If people bully you because you know most of the answers, that means they are probably just jealous because they do not think they are capable of doing well in school. When I asked the transition teacher at the special ed school that I went to about the possibility of taking courses in the middle set when I was set to attend my zoned high school full time. After she granted that request, a kid from the special ed school made fun of me and said right in my face 'First grade, basic classes". Because courses were limited there, I look like an overachiever by special ed standards in 1990.

The bottom line is, intelligence is not just accepted, it is RESPECTED.

Last edited by sootie1 on 13 Jun 2018, 8:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.