Does anyone else struggle to explain concepts to NTs?

Post Reply New Topic

I got another peer evaluation back, and - surprise, surprise! - it sucked. Again.

Well, it was better than the last one. Which doesn't say much. 1= needs improvement, 2= adequate, 3= outstanding

Last quarter, I had 4 1's and 2 2's. This semester I had 4 2's and 2 1's.

I felt like I made a complete turn around this semester. I focused on blending in and imitating the body language and habits of my teammates. I thought I stopped tuning out. My teammates act like they don't care what I have to say, so I had one meltdown this quarter (because being treated as "lesser" than the rest for reasons I didn't know drives me crazy because I hate being different enough as is!) I do not stand out for intelligence in this group - I am about the same as everyone else. It does pain me that there are others as smart and capable as me but totally normal and NT. It makes me feel that life is so unfair! I don't even have any relative strengths to compensate for the huge gaping weaknesses.

I have stopped interrupting the team, and perfected the art of entering a discussion.

However, the biggest complaint (aside from "surfs the internet during class" (but everyone does that! And how does that relate to my ability to work in a team!) was that they say I can't explain my reasoning for answers to questions.

My problem is that I am a walking encyclopedia. I know the answer because it is on page 362 of the textbook, not because I can reason it out - I don't know how to reason out in a way NTs understand no matter how hard I try to learn logic because I never needed to and I can't get inside their minds - yes, I am like the archetypal high school teacher who is brilliant and knows her stuff backwards and forwards but can't teach for her life. This is why my teammates never listen to me - because they know that the way i think and reason is nowhere near the way they think and understand. This is something I learned in medical school, where we are given 1 minute per question to reason out and answer as a team, tried to work on, but made zero progress. I thought I had made progress, a complete turnaround, but I was totally wrong. My thoughts are either too simplistic or too complex, or too reliant on stuff I've memorized that I can't back up any other way besides "it's in the textbook."

Anyone else in the same boat?

I don't know if this helps, but what you wrote reminded me of this:

What is the difference between the story and a plot as reasoned by E.M. Forster

This is a fact, maybe like you would read in a text book.



This is the explaination of the fact.

Also someone once told me that to explain something you can state the fact and then follow with:"which means that" or "this is because" and then go on to explain the fact. It can also be a good idea to relate the fact to a real scenario.

I wish I could get to that point.

Double-standards are something I've been thinking about a lot lately. Unfortunately, once people start recognizing you are different than others, they will scrutinize you more vigorously. Therefore you would be targeted for surfing the internet during class while others will get a pass. I hate that this is a fact of life, but it is.

We should probably remember that we are human too and we probably do unfair things to others as well. It doesn't make it OK, but it is something important to remember.

Sounds they are all buddies and you're the outcast of the group. This means in the NT world, that they can pick on you and gang up on you. It's pretty vicious those NT cliques. I'd talk to a professor or counselor about it because Im sure it effects your grade, right?

Yes, I struggle to explain some things to NTs, but then the NTs also fail in explaining things to me, it's a two-way street. The problem is that we're trying to explain things that are happening inside our minds and it ain't easy, try explaining to a blind guy the color purple!

Metaphors sometimes help but that means that the answer to a question sometimes requires considerable thought.