I figured out something. My advice is not very good if you are not a person like me. I know my field and have abundant ideas; I love to write and take pride in my prose. I am not particularly great with people unlike myself, though. People who don't seem to get what scholarship is all about in the first place. I always plan my courses as though everyone were like me. That's the presumption I make, but of course that is false.
If you are like me, you might not even need my tricks.
4 comments:
This is true! Your advice is perfect for some people, though. I have realized this over time as well. On the one hand, different strategies work for different people. On the other, not everyone is ready to hear advice.
Your advice might not work for someone today, but could do wonders for them at a future date.
The advice people give is what they need to hear themselves -- generally speaking. It is interesting to see how smart people advise themselves. That is why one goes to class, for instance.
Reminds me of Ben Marcus's definition of 'himself' in The Age of Wire and String:
BEN MARCUS, THE 1. False map, scroll, caul, or parchment. It is comprised of the first skin. In ancient times, it hung from a pole, where wind and birds inscribed its surface. Every year, it was lowered and the engravings and dents that the wind had introduced were studied. It can be large, although often it is tiny and illegible. Members wring it dry. It is a fitful chart in darkness. When properly decoded (an act in which the rule of opposite perception applies), it indicates only that we should destroy it and look elsewhere for instruction.
"My advice is not very good if you are not a person like me."
Isn't this generalizable? Advice that I give is what I would do in a given situation, not what the person I'm advising would do.
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