Page 193 - A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

any effort or achievement you make. This happens to everyone, not just Nobel
Prize winners. If you do well in your studies, the people around you can feel
threatened. The greater your achievement, the more other people will sometimes
attack and demean your efforts.
On the other hand, if you flunk a test, you may also encounter critics who
throw more barbs, saying you don’t have what it takes. Failure is not so terrible.
Analyze what you did wrong and use it to correct yourself to do better in the

future. Failures are better teachers than successes because they cause you to
rethink your approach.
Some “slower” students struggle with math and science because they can’t
seem to understand ideas that others find obvious. These students unfortunately
sometimes think of themselves as not very bright, but the reality is that their
slower way of thinking can allow them to see confusing subtleties that others

aren’t aware of. It’s the equivalent of a hiker who notices the scent of pine and
small-animal paths in the woods, as opposed to the oblivious motorist who’s
whizzing by at seventy miles an hour. Sadly, some instructors feel threatened by
the deceptively simple questions that seemingly pedestrian students can pose.
Rather than acknowledging how perceptive these questions are, instructors
attack the questioner with brusque, brushoff answers that equate to “just do as
you’re told like everybody else does.” This leaves the questioner feeling foolish

and only deepens the confusion. (Keep in mind that instructors sometimes can’t
tell whether you are thinking deeply about the material, or whether you’re
having trouble taking ownership of your own role in understanding simple
matters, as was the case with my truculent behavior in high school.)
In any case, if you find yourself struggling with the “obvious,” don’t despair.

Look to your classmates or the Internet for help. One useful trick is to try to find
another instructor—one with nice evaluations—who occasionally teaches the
same class. These instructors often understand what you are experiencing and
are sometimes willing to help if you don’t overuse them as a resource. Remind
yourself that this situation is only temporary, and no circumstance is truly as
overwhelming as it might seem at the time.
As you will find when you reach the work world (if you haven’t already),

many individuals are far more interested in affirming their own ideas and
making themselves look good than they are in helping you. In this kind of
situation, there can be a fine line between keeping yourself open to constructive
explanation and criticism, versus being closed to commentary or criticism that is
couched as constructive but is actually simply spiteful. Whatever the criticism, if