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Conformity and You At 12:03 PM by: Nana |
Today was the day of my second last exam of the year. Last night I went out drinking, thinking that it was at 2:00 pm. However, when I got home I realized that I made a mistake and that I'd have to cram a bit before the exam, which was actually at 9:30 am. This morning I woke up at 7:00 am, and chose to forgo showering for the extra 10-15 minutes I would get in cramming time. I ended up leaving around 9:15 am for my Social Psychology exam, and made it on time.
A little bit on Social Psychology. This was one of my wild-card classes which was mandatory for my program, but was one of many choices. I ended up choosing it because the other choices were full, but it's not something I regret in the least - and not just because the girl:guy ratio is something like 15:1. I learned a lot in this class, and I'm betting that it's mostly because of the professor. He would stress to us the importance of non-conformity and show us the inherent problems with authority based institutions, like universities. For example, we put authority into the hands of authority figures, despite the fact that they're really no different than you or I. Also, grading and testing procedures in universities have no inherent meaning other than working as a sifter of people. An "A" is just a letter; it doesn't actually mean anything. The professor wasn't an anarchist or anything, (although that would have been awesome if he was, since I've never met an anarchist. I imagine they're roguish and avant-garde and stuff... I love that word, avant-garde.) but social psychology is about looking at what makes society tick and picking it apart, peering at it's underbelly, moist with dew like a homeless man who has been sleeping outside overnight. Anyway, I recommend that you all try and take a social psychology class, or just pester me to yell things at you that I've learned over a pint someday.
So back to the exam. There were four questions, each one worth 10% of our grade. The first one was on conformity. "To conform or not to conform. That is the question." Easy, I thought. I then began to write down my brilliant answer. The other questions involved aggression and stress and stuff, and I finished them pretty easily as well. The entire exam took approximately 2 hours for me to finish.
After I was done, I set my paper down and went to talk to the professor, who was actually standing outside the classroom. Another note about him: he believed that if you could cheat and get away with it, then you deserved the grade that you got. He also didn't really believe in supervising us during tests, because he trusted that we wouldn't just copy off of each other. I love this guy.
So I went outside to talk to the professor and thank him for a good semester. I learned a lot in this class, and I'll never forget many of the things that were brought up. I'll also never forget what he said after I thanked him.
"How did you like the exam?"
I replied that it was fair, but that I would have probably been better served in writing a paper (we had a choice between a paper, oral exam, and written exam).
"Ah, I see. I'll let you in on a secret. Do you see this first question?"
(He pointed to the question on conformity)
"'To conform or not to conform. That is the question.'"
My heart sunk as I realized what he was saying.
"You didn't have to write this exam. That is my last lesson for you."
After a whole semester of learning about conformity and other social pressures, I succumbed to my basic social "sheep" programming, and conformed. I didn't think about what was written on the page - I simply did as I was told and wrote the exam. Luckily, this isn't one of those exams where you get a zero for doing that, but this experience really drove home to me the lesson of conformity. It's one thing to learn something in your class, but it's another to understand what you learned and incorporate it into your life. It's one lesson that I'll always remember.
A little bit on Social Psychology. This was one of my wild-card classes which was mandatory for my program, but was one of many choices. I ended up choosing it because the other choices were full, but it's not something I regret in the least - and not just because the girl:guy ratio is something like 15:1. I learned a lot in this class, and I'm betting that it's mostly because of the professor. He would stress to us the importance of non-conformity and show us the inherent problems with authority based institutions, like universities. For example, we put authority into the hands of authority figures, despite the fact that they're really no different than you or I. Also, grading and testing procedures in universities have no inherent meaning other than working as a sifter of people. An "A" is just a letter; it doesn't actually mean anything. The professor wasn't an anarchist or anything, (although that would have been awesome if he was, since I've never met an anarchist. I imagine they're roguish and avant-garde and stuff... I love that word, avant-garde.) but social psychology is about looking at what makes society tick and picking it apart, peering at it's underbelly, moist with dew like a homeless man who has been sleeping outside overnight. Anyway, I recommend that you all try and take a social psychology class, or just pester me to yell things at you that I've learned over a pint someday.
So back to the exam. There were four questions, each one worth 10% of our grade. The first one was on conformity. "To conform or not to conform. That is the question." Easy, I thought. I then began to write down my brilliant answer. The other questions involved aggression and stress and stuff, and I finished them pretty easily as well. The entire exam took approximately 2 hours for me to finish.
After I was done, I set my paper down and went to talk to the professor, who was actually standing outside the classroom. Another note about him: he believed that if you could cheat and get away with it, then you deserved the grade that you got. He also didn't really believe in supervising us during tests, because he trusted that we wouldn't just copy off of each other. I love this guy.
So I went outside to talk to the professor and thank him for a good semester. I learned a lot in this class, and I'll never forget many of the things that were brought up. I'll also never forget what he said after I thanked him.
"How did you like the exam?"
I replied that it was fair, but that I would have probably been better served in writing a paper (we had a choice between a paper, oral exam, and written exam).
"Ah, I see. I'll let you in on a secret. Do you see this first question?"
(He pointed to the question on conformity)
"'To conform or not to conform. That is the question.'"
My heart sunk as I realized what he was saying.
"You didn't have to write this exam. That is my last lesson for you."
After a whole semester of learning about conformity and other social pressures, I succumbed to my basic social "sheep" programming, and conformed. I didn't think about what was written on the page - I simply did as I was told and wrote the exam. Luckily, this isn't one of those exams where you get a zero for doing that, but this experience really drove home to me the lesson of conformity. It's one thing to learn something in your class, but it's another to understand what you learned and incorporate it into your life. It's one lesson that I'll always remember.
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