The Arrogance Complex: Embrace it or Escape it?

Today so far has been trying me...A argument, or a conflict rather, between myself and an instructor of mine made apparent to me my lifelong struggle with being humble to my ideas or embrace m personal enthusiasm with my thoughts. Now i have no problem with taking a step down from being the center of attention. To be honest, i personally try to avoid it at all costs. I dont like to be singled out for my thoughts, whether its praise or pride, i rather share than to personally benefit from things in life.

This morning, I went to my Design Theory II class, in which we develop methods on how to explain design in terms of thought and abstract, things that explain the "feeling" behind why products are made in the first place. We were all assigned to brainstorm about various points or concepts of interest for a project to develop. Seperated into groups, each collective was to generate as many ideas as possible, ranging from new product ideas to larger, more abstract new systems of how a user involves themselves with something. Fine. Seems good. Each group then presents the brainstorm session in a presentation, explaining how the process went about and the results of that process. Now for this week, each individual was to develop one idea or concept developed from the group that they were involved in, particularly an individual pulls from the pool of concepts that their group came up with.

So, the group i was in, developed a large stroyline, featuring products and systems of living according to living Environmentally friendly, you know, living "green". Anyways, for my individual project (which was actually a collaboration of ideas with an individual in my group) was to create a modular home for the masses or an individual citizen. Simple to understand. Now, to support this claim of a 'green' home, i took the time to research on the aspects of being Environmentally friendly, particularly sustainability. Sustainability, briefly, is basically how one person or thing can contribute to its own preservation in an effort to perserve the environment it resides in, thus 'sustaining' its individual existance in that environment. So, my modular home concept was to provide housing as a product. Think Green House of the Future, however more like the house itself as a product. Like a mobile home, except in a urban surrounding. The goal of this sustainable house was directly correlated to the conservation of nature and the environment, yet still allow human development and interaction within nature.

Okay. Seems simple enough. A "green" home. Got it. Well, my instructor sure didnt...I presented my research, to at least show that i was THINKING about the project at hand. I brought my findings of what is sustainability and conservation as means to support WHY im designing a 'green' home and HOW this effects the people who would use it. Before i could even FINISH my first sentence on the subject matter, my instructor interrupts me...now, i know it seems really complicated, but i didnt even explain the finer points on anything yet. The instructor begins to criticize that my findings are "too complex" and "irrelevant" to the design task of coming up with an idea, branding it to a company that may product this hypothetically, and then developing the idea as a product concept. Now i can accept criticism. I embrace the opportunity, but if someone who is critiquing me refuses to see, in this case listen, to the entire thought, then the judgment can only be premature and seemingly rude. The instructor goes on to criticize my way of attempting to explain the concept, about the subject of sustainability and environmentalist views to be all "too expertise" for me...:O Are you serious? Really? basically saying that I think that im "too smart" to just do the normal and that i personally feel that i should do something extremely complex to make everyone feel dumb. Now, if that may the case, i never even stated it, because i was never able to FINISH a sentence...-_-.

At no point did i even hint at the sentiment of singling out anyone for their ideas, the other people in my class, such as a city car concept with some sort of environmental friendly aspect (expected of MOST of the students in my realm, since most are product and automotive design majors. Of course the students who design cars are going to do a car!) or a heart-monitoring device that promotes health awareness and allow for players' health to be analyzed. But to shoot me down before i even finish my statement is just plain rude, and in turn, condescending on the INSTRUCTOR's part, not mine. I even made a Keynote presentation, using visuals and factual data to accompany my concept, to illustrate why i was designing a house as a product. Not cool. Seriously.

The Instructor went on to single myself and another individual (who was in my group and helped the development of the idea) and discussed that i was wrong and shouldn't have thought such of a broad scope and pick something particular (basically telling me to dumb it down. -_-). Again, this isn't cool. I am deeply upset about the whole situation, even after she somewhat accepted the whole argument of WHY im doing such a project, because it was all out of disrespect and really her being very strong-willed and ignorant to our individual strengths, the instructor stating that im far too arrogant to be presenting the material the way i did; also to state that my vocabulary was far too large for the aim of this project.

If thats arrogance, please rethink education in your life...