Egos the size of China

[osprey_archer]

Tutoring your friends is often awkward. Tutoring your friend who think she's ten times smarter than you despite the fact that her papers offer no evidence to support this claim, even more awkward.

It probably doesn't help that we both have egos the size of China, which are almost entirely propped up on our intellects, and said intellects are too fragile to support that much weight without considerable strain.

On the other hand I have finished my gigantic Spanish bullfighting paper, and I plan to post something about it in the next few days because I have the attention span of a dragonfly and bullfighting is New and Shiny (as something I've studied, I mean; historically it goes all the way back to the Romans or the Visigoths depending who you ask).

Comments

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

Does she have the same major? Or an English major (this one, specifically, because writing a paper shouldn't be as big an issue for her than if, say, she were a math whiz)? Either way, I tutored a friend once (and only one) and it drove us both crazy; it works out so much better just to stay separate sometimes.

New and Shiny! I love new and shiny. :)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

She's some sort of science major, either physics or biochem.

The problem, I think, is that our faults are too similar: if she says, "I'm thinking on five different levels at once! That's why my papers don't make sense to lesser mortals!" (the implication of course being that I am a lesser mortal, else I would totally understand her paper) - and I always want to say, "I can think on multiple levels too, Erin. And my papers are coherent."

Which wouldn't really be helpful for anyone.

I've tutored other friends and it worked out okay; I think they're more willing to put their egos aside and listen. (It helps that they aren't native English speakers.)