Education should be about learning not socializing

[SvennoJ]

ctk495 said:

Thank's for the replies guys. I am not a misanthrope, actually I have tons of friends online! Facebook, Reading Clubs, Indie Music and self-improvement.

My problem is socializing with people in real life in an institution-school and college- where you need to interact constantly with them. Especially since both of the schools I attended where small. I can put my social mask but not all the time as its required. The most frustrating aspect of social skills on an institution is that I am getting penalized for what I do and for what I DON'T do.

For instance, some people want to talk to me in Spanish-my natiive language. However, If I talk to them in Spanish they get offended as they tend to think I am showing off. On the other hand, if I don't they get angry since they tend to think I am too good to talk to them. I have hundreds of examples like this, but it always seems like I end up rubbing people the wrong way.

The problem is at work you also need to interact constantly with people that don't share the same interests. Shutting yourself off from real life people isn't going to prepare you for how to interact with people in the work place. I didn't like most people in college either yet I still made some good friends, which have been great support afterwards.

I started working at a small software company that had the believe that good credentials should be enough. However that backfired, as we ended up with people that nobody could work with. They quickly changed policy that candidates should be able to fit in with the rest of us foremost, next to having good learning ability. Learning how to fit in is an important skill in life.

Btw what they want to hear is a compliment on how well their Spanish is (getting)

It's hard to learn to be sociable, or even like it. I still rather avoid interaction with real people. I don't know whether its a blessing or a curse that the internet is a good alternative.