Everyone doesn't feel like an imposter.
But most of us feel we're surrounded by them.
I hear "fake it til you make it" coming from children's mouths these days, not just startup hustlers.
The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
41–50 of 56 posts
Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's related to pride, in my experience tutoring high school and college kids. That was my own experience while growing up as well, there's a sentiment that "natural" smartness and hard-working smartness are two seperate things. I feel like kids have been moving away from this mindset, but maybe it's changed names. Growing up being a "nerd" was uncool, and studying was "nerdy". After college, I talked to some of the…
As someone who neither took notes nor studied for basically anything I disagree. I cannot study effectively. I would cram some facts in 30 minutes prior to a test and that’s it. I don’t think I was alone. It had nothing to do with looking uncool. Most stuff is simply taught in class and if you pay attention and remember it you will be fine. Teachers tend not to test stuff they did not teach. I always thought studying…
Wait so after a lecture on the principles of, say, kinematics you would then be able to nail an exam that required you to compute against those principles? I think that's unusual.
For me in class even if I could follow the teacher perfectly, only through applying concepts in study (read: solving many problems) could I gain the deeper level of insight and comfort with the material that it took to ace exams.
Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
#43> her mother had taught her that naturally smart people don’t have to study. Of all the parts of the article, that little bit stands out. Because I see my older kid do that all the time, as if putting in effort to do something is somehow not the real thing. As if things learned from mistakes and practice is not progress - a substitute for talent.
It’s a protection mechanism for ones ego. Because if you “don’t try” you always have an excuse for why you’re not doing as well as the “nerds” at school. If you do “try” but you don’t get a top result, what would that say to a kids fragile ego ? They might think they’re not good at all. By trying, you reveal your capabilities (as well as your limitations), and that can be terrifying for a kid with a fragile ego. The…
A problem with this attitude is how schools and their grading systems are teaching children the exact opposite. What matters are your grades in the end.
I feel like judging myself by my results and not by the process im going through was so deeply ingrained in me that even after years of trying I cannot get rid of it.
Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who neither took notes nor studied for basically anything I disagree. I cannot study effectively. I would cram some facts in 30 minutes prior to a test and that’s it. I don’t think I was alone. It had nothing to do with looking uncool. Most stuff is simply taught in class and if you pay attention and remember it you will be fine. Teachers tend not to test stuff they did not teach. I always thought studying…
Wait so after a lecture on the principles of, say, kinematics you would then be able to nail an exam that required you to compute against those principles? I think that's unusual. For me in class even if I could follow the teacher perfectly, only through applying concepts in study (read: solving many problems) could I gain the deeper level of insight and comfort with the material that it took to ace exams.
I mean yeah. I sat in the front. I listened and took no notes.
If you’re being tested on details from a book you need to read the book. Think English tests that really just want to Make sure you actually read.
If you’re being tested on the gist of what was taught then you can probably just pay attention in class. Think… biology or history.
If you’re being tested on your ability to apply things you just need to be confident in your understanding of the mechanics. If you understand a math formula, and it’s reasoning, there’s not often a need to practice it. Some exceptions apply where the math is just weird hacks and patterns like finding function roots or calculus patterns. Physics is pretty hard for people because it really asks you to be able to apply things to real world thinking. I recall a question that requires you to consider the distance to the moon to get an answer. This distance was not provided. If you understood the formula and the problem, it was apparent that the distance would be so large it would not affect the answer. Hard to study for.
Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s a protection mechanism for ones ego. Because if you “don’t try” you always have an excuse for why you’re not doing as well as the “nerds” at school. If you do “try” but you don’t get a top result, what would that say to a kids fragile ego ? They might think they’re not good at all. By trying, you reveal your capabilities (as well as your limitations), and that can be terrifying for a kid with a fragile ego. The…
A problem with this attitude is how schools and their grading systems are teaching children the exact opposite. What matters are your grades in the end. I feel like judging myself by my results and not by the process im going through was so deeply ingrained in me that even after years of trying I cannot get rid of it.
SO is a high school teacher. This is her primary complaint about how we do things today. She talks a lot about the book Grading for Equity.
I'm of the opinion that traditional schooling is a bit of a zombie. There just isn't a way for an institution with that much inertia to keep up with a world that releases generalized search and chat-capable LLMs within 20 years of each other. Especially considering they're so underfunded that in places you don't even need to know a subject to get a job teaching it, because they don't have enough SMEs willing to work at the pay.
Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
#46> her mother had taught her that naturally smart people don’t have to study. Of all the parts of the article, that little bit stands out. Because I see my older kid do that all the time, as if putting in effort to do something is somehow not the real thing. As if things learned from mistakes and practice is not progress - a substitute for talent.
My kid is pretty smart, not genius smart, and he falls into this trap too. He loves succeeding at stuff, but hates putting effort into it. If he tries and fails once, he says "well I'm just not a ____ person" and digs his heels in. If we cajole him into trying, he'll intentionally flub it.
Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
#47I do not think I have ever felt imposter syndrome, in all honesty. Do most people honestly feel this?
Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
#48Everyone doesn't feel like an imposter. But most of us feel we're surrounded by them. I hear "fake it til you make it" coming from children's mouths these days, not just startup hustlers.
This is exactly right. Been seeing this a lot, especially in the last five years.
Most of my tech interview strategy has adapted to weed out candidates that are imposters.
Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
#49I do not think I have ever felt imposter syndrome, in all honesty. Do most people honestly feel this?
There's another thread further down of us. Personally I think the author (or editor, whoever chose the title) feels it and is projecting onto everyone else.
Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's related to pride, in my experience tutoring high school and college kids. That was my own experience while growing up as well, there's a sentiment that "natural" smartness and hard-working smartness are two seperate things. I feel like kids have been moving away from this mindset, but maybe it's changed names. Growing up being a "nerd" was uncool, and studying was "nerdy". After college, I talked to some of the…
As someone who neither took notes nor studied for basically anything I disagree. I cannot study effectively. I would cram some facts in 30 minutes prior to a test and that’s it. I don’t think I was alone. It had nothing to do with looking uncool. Most stuff is simply taught in class and if you pay attention and remember it you will be fine. Teachers tend not to test stuff they did not teach. I always thought studying…
How much of it do you remember now? How much of it do you care to remember long term? I know you weren't alone, I was one of those kids too, at certain times and certain tests. For most people, it was about pride, being able to say you didn't study or social standing and "coolness". Later in life I learned I have ADHD and that went a long way to explain a lot of my bad habits. I think it depends on the level of curriculum too. 11th and 12th, the last two years of HS for me, six out of my eight classes were AP/college weighted, the only exceptions were english and physical education.
Teachers absolutely tested stuff they didn't teach and they barely assigned homework, there was a lot of self-learning. I think it's relatively uncommon for schools to do this, but in 12th I took AP Physics C, calculus based physics, and we did both semesters over the school year, both Mech and E&M. We matched college pacing, and on both AP test I got 5s. I am so grateful to that teacher for getting that experience before starting college, he had a PhD in theortical physics. My science education was filled with teachers with PhDs while I was in high school.
People absolutely have to study when they are being challenged at an appropriate level. If I was in a non-accelerated curriculum, I think I would have agreed with you, because it would have matched my experience. But I took my first AP class in 10th grade, the second year of high school. There's no way to be successful in a hard science AP class without studying in one way or another. I remember some of my friends used to do the homework from one class in another and then say they didn't study. I am not disagreeing with your experience, I am disagreeing with your generalization.