Wednesday, November 16, 2016

introverts, elitism, and Uni


I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea of “introvert vs. extrovert” and how it’s kind of bullshit. Admittedly, I’m at that age where I think a lot of already established ideas are bullshit, so it’s hard for me to act like this is some revolutionary news I’m breaking to the world, but I have a lot of mixed feelings about introvert and extrovert-related stuff.

Basically, I’ve always felt like the whole “I’m suuuuch an introvert” line gets used way too much as this patronizing way to make people feel like going out or wanting to hang is bad. If I took an online quiz right now it would easily tell me I’m an “introvert” – most days I’d rather stay at home and do my own little thing – but it frustrates me that my peers use that as some elitist construct. Likewise, I guess, it’s bogus if someone who’s an “extrovert” gives people a hard time for wanting to stay home, but I don’t think that’s as big of an issue. In my logic, this sort of mimics the people-who-read-books trend; people will take this sort of unpopular “nerd” thing, romanticize it, then pose it as if that practice alone makes them an inherently better person. Like, “I read books all the time, aren’t I so subversive and cool and better?” Of course, I love to read -- I think it's a beautiful, constructive, awesome way to spend time -- but it’s annoying that people use that little detail of their personality as some defining term to show that they’re better than you. I remember, for most of my high school years, feeling super guilty about wanting to go out or wanting to zone out and draw instead of reading, thinking that I was somehow discrediting myself as a “smart intellectual person,” and looking back that’s ridiculous!!

There are so many ways to be a “smart” person, and I guess that’s the root of my frustration with the whole “introvert” concept: people acting like you’re only really suitable to be an intellectual or a smart kid if you do these certain things, feel this certain way, etc. It’s something I definitely think we let kids get away with at Uni. If you thought that test was hard or don’t remember know how to do this proof, or don’t have this opinion, there’s something therefore lesser about you, and that’s so bogus!! I struggle to personally define intelligence, but one thing I know for sure is that it isn’t determined by some singular personality quirk. There are so many ways to show your smarts, and it’s incredibly limiting when people try to cut each other off from that just because of some minor thing. The other day, for example, I was thinking about how smart one of my friends was just based on their ability to problem solve, think ahead, and consider all of their options. You can be smart and have no high school education, you can be smart and have a PhD; it’s not a revolutionary concept, I know, but I do think we get lost in a certain convoluted idea of intelligence at Uni with lots of intricate definers. I get flustered if I can’t remember the capital of a state, or the type of beetle I’m pinning in bug bio, and though it’s frustrating, most of that embarrassment comes from these weird stigmas we’ve developed. In the same sense that Uni seems to sensationalize talent in math, science, sports, chess, etc. and brush over the arts, I think there’s a very particular form of “smartness” that we let ourselves believe in.

I’ve gotten away from the idea of introverted-ness, but my point remains the same: I don’t really like to associate with the term. I could spend weeks and months alone, just vibing, but I love to be around my friends and hang in large groups. I would shy away from self-identifying as an introvert, because I don’t like what it implies: that sense of elitism, one that seems so pervasive in Uni culture.

5 comments:

  1. Clara, this is so well written! I completely agree with you - Uni does have some limiting ideas of what it means to be "smart". Good post!

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  2. First of all, "just vibing." Love it. I loved loved this post! It looks like you put a lot of thought into it, and I get the impression that this is something that you have thought about a lot before, but has actively come up in your life recently, which is like perfect for a blog post. I really enjoyed how you took your overarching argument about how we view intelligence to how it's viewed at Uni. I agree, intelligence has multiple ways of measurement, and stigmatization is really widespread. I also totally agree with not wanting to associate with certain labels. Like I am a very social person, but I also have always loved to curl up and read. One trait does not define anything, which is something you brought up that I thought was well-said.

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  3. I really enjoyed and agree with the ideas brought up. I often see the thing you're talking about with people using the term "extrovert" almost as an insult and people thinking they're better because they do things alone.
    Definitely a culture at Uni surrounded by valuing amount of intelligence, especially as many students went to schools where that was the norm prior to Uni.Hopefully people grow out of it by the time college comes, I bet they will.

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  4. It's funny––I find that people use "introvert" as more negative and "extrovert" as more positive. But I agree that the two terms oversimplify people in general. It's complicated and context-based. Very few people are simply one or the other.

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  5. I'm glad to have the reminder about different types of intelligence, and the importance of all of them. I think a lot of people are in the middle of the introvert-extrovert spectrum, because I think that humans are social, but need time alone. So, I don't really like those labels either. great post.

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