Hacker News Reader

Comment by kristopolous | Hacker News Reader

I strongly believe someone's conformity to obedience, authoritarianism and conventionalism plays a substantial factor in their performance.

I've dealt with many people with advanced degrees from top tier schools who seem to be completely unable to grasp subversive or non dominant thought patterns.

For years I was stunned, thinking "how on earth could they have such impressive academic credentials and be struggling like this."

The entire institution continually fosters and rewards a set of specific things with limited application.

View on HN

Rebelliousness, while may be a valuable skill, is different from intelligence.

Unorthodox thinking is a cognitive ability. what kind is it if not intelligence?

Creativity.

Presume there's a multiple choice with two decent answers. A "rebellious" person would see the merit in both and essentially coin toss. A conformist would mimic what the professor sees and pick his right one.

The rebellious person did a deeper, objective, thoughtful analysis but did worse than the obedient mimic.

Often it's a D student who knows the material the best, has the most passion for the subject, is the smartest in the class, and puts the most work in. I saw it all the time while I was TAing.

> A "rebellious" person would see the merit in both and essentially coin toss.

Perhaps a smart person is a rebel roleplaying as a conformist. In a game theoretic sense you get the most advantage without the penalty. It is one explanation I suspected but haven't seen for why contradictory traits might be expressed by somebody in or close to power.

> A conformist would mimic what the professor sees and pick his right one.

Less Wrong calls this 'Guessing the teacher's password'.

It's the art of mimicry. That there is no penalty for this in the education system is an indictment.

> Often it's a D student who knows the material the best

Even most A students will agree with you. There is an argument made by Alfie Kohn that grades should be abolished.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfRALeA3mdU

Sorry but I completely disagree. The D students I knew were dumb as rocks. I got As through my engineering degree with a few Bs in a few of the classes I was less interested in and I have to say, it's completely ridiculous to suggest the D students knew more than I did.

You could either solve the problems using techniques taught or you couldn't. Grades were a direct measurement of this ability. Maybe grades don't matter in Psychology or Sociology class, but I don't want to rely on an electrical system designed by the D students in my classes. It would probably kill me.

The claim wasn't about all D students or that there was an inverse correlation. There's certainly slackers with Ds...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com