The Final Countdown

My first final paper is due tonight -- in 2 hours to be exact. I've been working on this paper since the end of February, so you might think that it is unquestionably awesome. The problem is, my professor and I cannot communicate at all. The funny part of that problem is that it provides plenty of post-class fodder to laugh about, and it means job security for my future. I'm amazed at how words can mean such different things to different people and think it's totally awesome that I'm going to make a career out of examining language.

But we are not just talking about potato patata here. I make what I think is a sequential logical argument -- he says I'm taking leaps. I say material object, like something I'm holding in my hand -- he says something about physics. I write an entire 15-page draft of my final paper on tears -- he makes a note in the bibliography that he still has no idea why I'm writing about tears. Aye yai yai ya yai!

The problem of miscommunicating so profoundly with a professor is that the problem never quite gets resolved. It's not an issue of not writing clearly or even poor syntax or something like that. It is much more about the vastly different ways we think in general. Which leads me to wonder: how it is that we ever cross that bridge with people that we don't quite get?

A grad school colleague, who I'm already quoting frequently on this blog, enlightened me to Percy Shelley's "Defense of Poetry," which is not nearly as dry as the title sounds. He explains that people are either reasoned thinkers or imaginative thinkers. Reasoned thinkers respect differences and imaginative thinkers value commonalities. Because I'm an imaginative thinker, overcoming this divide between my reasoned-seasoned professor doesn't seem like a big deal. But it really is. I have totally and utterly exhausted myself for 2 months on this paper, and I have no real confidence that he will follow or understand my argument when I turn this thing in tonight.

This thinking divide might also provide insights into why transitioning to a job in higher education has been difficult for me. The whole institution is not only rooted in reason, it values reasoned arguments and strong logic as the pinnacle of knowledge. Every time I'm told about a barrier, I see a way through it...and I always thought that was a really good thing.  And well, that's just not the case here...the reasons why are not clear to me, but they are numerous.

So, I’m curious, what kind of thinker are you?  I think I’ve got most of you pegged, but I’d love to know how you self-identify.