There is this thing that many of us young academics do early in our careers. I find it most common among the most committed and passionate students (and I know this because I am one). We like to point out that we are stupid. I think that is comes as a knee-jerk response to the stereotype that says academics are all know-it-all butt-hats. Believe me, I know enough of those as well.
We really need to stop calling ourselves stupid, though. It is one thing to say that we learn every day how little we know. It is entirely another to say that we know nothing. Unless you are some sort of Socratic, there really is no excise to walk around talking about how little you know. For one thing, it comes off as incredibly disingenuous - there is something awful about hearing someone you respect and admire talk about how they don't deserve to be respected and admired. Stop acting Christ-like and admit that your education has equipped you with a certain set of skills that make you a benefit to society.
We're not stupid because we may not be adept at science or mathematics (or if we are scientists, we are not stupid if we can't write an essay without twenty editors).
I guess I should get to the point of this rant. There is a "meme" going around the internet with a simple math problem that anyone who took elementary mathematics should know how to complete. Granted, there are certainly valid reasons to not be able to process numbers, but I find it shocking that one source says that 87% of respondents get the answer wrong. The question is: 3+3*3-3+3
I have always told myself and many others that I just plain suck at math. I say it casually. Someone tells me their phone number and I say "I've got to write that down, numbers just go in one ear and out the other". Someone asks me how much their paycheck is after tax and I say the answer but then finish by adding "but don't quote me on it; I'm shit at math".
But it took me two seconds to answer this question. 12 I thought. But then almost everyone on the Facebook page I was visiting said either 6 or 18 and I started to doubt myself. I said it in my head. B-E-DM-AS...that made the answer 12. Didn't it? Right? But I suck at math. So I am probably wrong.
I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that we really should stop doubting ourselves. We should stop putting ourselves down. Being a good academic means taking ownership of your natural and practiced abilities so that you can put them to work to make the world a better place, or our lives and the lives of others a little easier. The fact that I am better at writing essays than I am at doing complex mathematical equations does not mean that I am stupid. And in fact, if you can't do math or write essays, there are certainly other things that you are good at that far make up for your shortcomings in these areas. I've personally never been very good at hitting a ball with a bat, but I can carry a tune, and while I can't paint a still-life to save my life, give me a portrait and I'm all over it.
So, stop saying you're stupid. I'll stop saying I'm stupid. This probably isn't going to change the world, but you'll probably feel a lot better about yourself.
Happy Tuesday!
J
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