I feel out of place

For the pass three weeks now, I been going to an auto tech school because I wanted to get started on my future career, but for this week I been starting to get terrible grades on my test. Also, my grade isn't very good now and I think I might fail my course and have to retake it again. The reason why I'm doing bad is that I think I'm not fit for it as someone told me that "I was living at the moment" and I think that person might be right. When I went to check whats wrong with myself on google, it seem that I'm a slow learner and have social anxiety, plus with the fact that I don't know much about cars or any knowledge of it.

I mean I'm not a smart person, I do have trouble in school with studying, understanding the lectures, taking test, and keeping up my grades. I do go to tutoring after school to get some help, but it seems that everytime I soak the useful information that is taught to me, I tend to forget what was taught to me almost instantly. So for the fact that I'm a slow learner, have social anxiety, new with learning a brand new thing, and that I forget what was taught to me. I feel like I'm different from the other people in my school in terms of intelligence and that I can't quickly learn the things as fast as the other people do. Also I feel like I'm way over my head and that I feel stupid or dumb for not understanding the subject I need to know. So yeah, this is the reason why I feel so out of place right now. :'(

"Before diagnosing yourself with an illness or mental problem, try going to a medical professional first."

The problem might not lie in whether you're (to put it bluntly) a retard or have SA. The real problem might just lie in the fact that you're doing a course in a subject you can't naturally grasp or learn. We all have something that we learn or can grasp naturally, while at the same time there are things that we can't.

Cars are easy.
The starter motor turns the fly wheel which turns the crankshaft, which pulls the piston down, creating a vacuum which sucks an air/fuel mix into the cylinder, the piston then moves back up and compresses said mix and ignites it. the piston then goes back down from the explosion and when it comes back up, pushes the combusted gas out the exhaust valve.
Ezpz.. that's only basic shit to actually...
If you need any help, feel free to ask me... Aside from only having cert 1 in automotive, I do know a little bit :D So I might be able to help a bit ;D

Else, it could be that it's not the course for you. Could be that you don't find it interesting enough

Okay being me i don't understand your situation all that well but here i go.

This has nothing to do with intelligence, it seems to me that you are doubting your own ability because of what someone said. Take it from me NEVER do that. The second you doubt that you can do something you will never achieve it.

I myself "live in the moment" because where else is there to be? I tend to be forgetful also, so i took up note-taking on important points in my studies, even now i have a handbook on me with notes and such on things i need to know for work and such other things. Eventually through repetition i don't tend to need it. But that just me.

Methinks you need to rethink what your really want and how you think you can achieve that now. Mainly cause you don't seem like a forward planning person, could be wrong, but that is just my impression.

My advice is relax, getting riled up about it can only make it worse.

Anyway there is my 2 cents :)

I'm a bit confused on exactly which part of this blog/journal entry is supposed to elicit discussion, but I guess I'll just go with this:

To be honest i didn't understand that much of it myself.....

If you really want to continue what you are doing your going to need to change your way of thinking and the way you live though that's easier said than done. Making a big change to your life should clear your head and help you get on with what you need to do it should also make it easier to study because you shouldn't be preoccupied with other things. I don't think any one is a slow learner if they put their minds into some thing but you need a clear head. Also if subject not for you you may want to find some thing else that you need or desire.

You kinda have to have a drive to be an auto technician. It's one of the fastest evolving fields because vehicles keep changing. Most if not all are becoming more Eco-friendly and containing more electronics than in the past. That reason alone forces you to keep learning more. If you don't already know the basics I suggest you choose something else you'd want to do.

I like to think of a car that is in need of repair like a human being patient. You have to diagnose the problem and fix/mend it. Basically you are a "car doctor". I also like to compare a vehicle to the human body. Essentially a vehicle has a heart, brain, lung, and blood.

Heart = Engine
Brain = ECU (Electronic Control Unit)
Lungs = Combustion Chamber (Intake air -> combine with fuel -> ignition & combustion -> exhaust)
Blood = Motor Oil

The rest you can use your imagination. Suspension being feet and wheels + tires being shoes etc.

Maybe because this not for you?

To summarise:

> OP is doing a college course.

> Because he cannot grasp what is being taught to him, as he puts it "in one ear and out the other", he then questions his intelligence in comparison to his peers, who all seem to get it with no problems.

> Then diagnoses himself with Social Anxiety and a mild form of retardation based on what he searched on Google

> Begins feeling "out of place" based on what he's diagnosed himself with.

Now he's pretty much asking for advice.

I am a doctor. My clinical opinion is as follows:

Tequila + Women.

It might be the method of learning/teaching that is the problem. i learn best by doing things myself. if it's something i have to read, i usually have to read it several times before it sticks.

perhaps the teacher just sucks. i've had a few teachers who could only parrot the books they were given because they had no understanding of the subject. when ever they were asked to explain or exopund on the subject, they could only repeat what they had said the first time.

you might want to look in to a trade that is less techincal. if you're in any part of the US, look into job corps.

Yes, thank you for the summary. You seemed to have missed my point. Hopefully I can help elucidate my meaning with this example:
You and some friends have a fairly open group where people come and discuss things, ask questions, tell jokes, and so on. One day, a person comes, sits down, and tells you a summary of their life for the past year. This is done abruptly, you don't know this person, they don't explain why they are telling you, they don't have any inquiries, and they don't explicitly or implicitly ask for advice. They just tell you, and then sit there and look at you.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd personally find the situation rather bewildering.

HA. I think suspension as legs, and wheels + tyres as feet. you can still walk without shoes, can't drive without wheels and tyres.. i suppose tyres would come in as shoes then technically

But anyway, my actual reply was going to be:
My car has no brain... it's too old D:

I think the problem with the thread creator is that he doesn't directly ask us for advices and what he wants to "ask" from us. I had the question "Why tell this to us, where's the reason? What *does* he want?" we can assume it out, but it's always nice for the creator to just tell us what he wants from us at the beginning.

Anyway, I'd think one should try to learn what they want to learn about, but from what the OP says, it may just be that he was never truly interested in whatever course he's taking. I feel that one must be interested in whatever subject they decide to study on. That that's just me.

so you're saying that you are so socialy inept that unless you are asked a direct question, you would just sit there with a blank stare...

the implication was pretty obvious.


you may want to invest in a ladder.

I was quite verbose in my example for a reason. The point of bewilderment was not merely the subject's failure to ask a question, it also included the circumstances of presentation and, of course, the presentation itself.
The poster might as well have been talking to himself.

Bombastic fish on!

Your failure (or unwillingness) to comprehend what you read does not equate to conceit on my part. I communicate the way I do to maximize accuracy, not to condescend.

Someone else has also expressed what I've said, in lighter tone.