Hi Lemmy! It is obvious that being a fast learner is advantageous. People like people that can get up to speed quickly and contribute to a project or team. Heck, I could put ‘fast learner’ on a resume and no one would think that’s weird. But what about slow learners?

Is there ever a time where it would have been better to learn a skill or get acquainted with something more slowly?

Are there any general benefits across all circumstances where being a slower learner can be advantageous?

And if there are any positives to taking more time to learning, is it something you could ever bring up on a resume or job interview? Would you ever find yourself saying to a hiring manager “I’m a slow learner, and here’s why that’s a good thing for your organization.” Or is it some abstract, unquantifiable positive thing like “I struggle to get good at things and that has built character,” or something like that?

TL;DR: In Avatar the Last Airbender terms, if you could have a choice between being a slow learner and struggling with everything (child Zuko) or learning fast and dominating at everything (child Azula), why would anyone ever choose the former?

  • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
    3·
    13 hours ago

    So I have a hard time memorizing. This was especially irksome as classes increasingly was curved and I could not memorize content to regurgitate in an exam. One thing I have found though is that when I memorize something it stays with me for awhile. In high school I had to memorize a poem and a mcbeth soliloqy and I can still do them without much thinking to get it going and with decent fidelity. I do pull it out ever so often as a party trick or think about them so that is part of what keeps it going but its something I notice. Like I feel people have different half lives to their memory. Some can’t remember much from last year and I would say the vast majority of folks I know don’t seem to be able to remember what things were like 5 years ago. Kinda crazy.