Question about changing deep-rooted attitudes formed in my childhood..?

Let me guess how you’re like. Do you enjoy word studies? Do you get upset when people pose opinions as facts? Are you concerned that a truth be established in every situation (i.e., you cannot stand relativity)? Do you have strong convictions & opinions based more on investigated facts rather than gut feelings? Do you only have a select circle of friends? Are you intellectually sharp – although you’ve failed several subjects? Are you more objective and subjective? Do you feel very uncomfortable when things not proven are accepted as facts… well, I think you’ve already answered this one. Must you validate truths by checking out the facts (i.e., doing personal research, whether you enjoy it or not)… well, you’ve answered this also.

If you’ve answered yes to all or most of these questions, let me rather first congratulate you on being a BORN teacher! It’s a rare gift – although many teach, many are not real teachers.

But now, given that you’ve failed a few subjects, and have an almost automatic repulsion against certain teachers/teaching styles, I agree that it would be very good to give some attention to this matter. So, getting to the heart of the matter, since you asked, I must give it to you as is.

Pride kills. And the only way to kill pride is to be humble – i.e., repent to God. You see, another tendency of teachers is to have pride because of their intellectual ability. But see what pride does to your grades, your relationships and a good chunk of your life? Now if you REALLY want to set things straight, even to the ROOTS, I’d say that apologizing to your mother – and even your teacher – is necessary… whenever you’re ready. If you don’t, the root of pride will remain, and will rear its ugly head again soon enough. I’m presenting to you a spiritual law. (There are things that exist whether one believes it or not – spiritual laws are one of them, as physical laws are.) If you plan on researching this out, try the Bible. More than half of it is about how pride destroys men.

It’s understandable why you’ve developed a pattern of rebellion against your mother, and others who would try to mandate acceptance of something without providing reasonable proof. Their actions are not warranted, and since your natural makeup is against such demands, your reaction is a reasonable consequence. However, no matter the offense, the response of rebellion is not right. Period. Sorry. Evil reaction is never the way to stand on top, and not be crushed by offense. On the other hand, it’s also unreasonable to beat yourself up for being the way you are – i.e., a teacher. So if I were you, I would rejoice in what I should rejoice in – i.e., knowing why I am the way I am, and work towards developing my gift; and fix what needs to be fixed. Who knows. Maybe you’re wired to be a professor – and maybe even a philosophy prof?? If teaching is your calling, why not make your paths straight by getting rid of your obstructions.

So here’s the summary: Rejoice that you are a born teacher! Secondly, if you want to get out of the life-rut for good and develop your God-given gift, repent and get right with God and with people whom you’ve alienated because of your gift. In the meantime, you can choose not to be offended when people try to force things on you since you now know a bit about why people act the way they do. When you understand the way people are wired, it’s easier to take things in stride. For further understanding on this teacher bit and how people are wired, refer to “Discover Your God-Given Gifts” by Don & Katie Fortune.

Best wishes!

I don't think that it is necessarily a bad thing that you are a skeptic. It is a good thing to question things and form your own opinions about things; however, you need to put things into perspective.

Your college intro classes are going to be focused on giving you declarative, factual-type knowledge on a broad scale. As you progress in your studies, you will be asked to think about the issues in a more analytical, evaluative way. Also, you will be taking classes that focus on one aspect of the discipline.

For your intro classes just give the profs back what they are asking you for. Trust that they are experts in the that field of knowledge. You can even try to read some of their published works so that you know what areas they are experts in.

You can spend time reading the primary sources for all of your classes, but this will likely take up a lot of your time. Do this for the area that you plan to major in. You will have a great background knowledge, especially when it comes time to write a thesis or dissertation in grad school.

As a child, you sort of had to obey. Also, parents are people, they don't know it all, they try their best. That's then, now you're an adult; it means you can change and discard what's not appropriate for you anymore. Instead of rejecting everything, take a deep breath and reason: lots of time it's necessary to accept things, other opinions.

By rejection of all, well you're acting exactly the same way than your mother was demanding from you. except it's it's reverse side!

I would say, don't banish your skeptical attitude all together. But perhaps learn to pick your battles, for a start. And also try asking questions rather than having to read everything for yourself. Ask your professors what particular passages in a text led them to that conclusion and look at those for yourself.

It's been my experience that even professors who seem very authoritative actually love it when students are engaged enough to argue, provided the argument is founded on something more worthy than killing time till the end of class. Another option is to wait around after class and talk to your professors then.

Also, don't worry about being in agreement with your professors when exams and papers come up. Some of the best grades I earned in college came from papers where I actively disagreed with a professor but provided really good arguments for my point.

EDIT: I know this attitude probably affects much more of your life than just college. But because of the amount of information you have to assimilate in school, it seems the best place to start making changes.