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School Will Socialize You
INTJ children are more likely than most kids to hang out with the misfits of the group. Chances are
not bad that the other misfits are other introverted intuitives anyway. "Birds of a feather flock
together."
Boring Subjects
Each type has its own preferences and interests. These interests dictate which courses a type is
most interested in at school. Though the specifics differ, science and math are often particular INTJ
favorites; however, they may be less inspired by mandatory topics such as literature, history, and
especially physical education. They will give more energy and time to the subjects they enjoy,
while getting lower grades in less preferred subjects.
Observers may be surprised at how hard an INTJ works when it comes to a subject they like, and
how blase they are about subjects they don't care about. 245 This tendency is probably exacerbated
by the fact that INTJs attend school primarily to learn about how the universe functions—as
opposed to the goals of other types, i.e. to socialize, please the teacher, meet members of the
opposite sex, do what is proper, or have fun. One can see how the goal of "socializing" can be
achieved independently of a class' subject matter; however, the goal of learning about the universe
is not often advanced by running laps in sticky sweatpants or dissecting the parts of a sentence. The
disparity between an INTJ's grades in topics of interest and their grades in topics of disinterest can
be surprisingly dramatic.
Gifted Judgers
Being a judger provides some advantages when it comes to school:
• Most teachers, both at a public school and college level, are Judgers. 246 Students who are
taught by teachers with a type similar to their own are more likely to "get" the teacher's
style, find assignments enjoyable, and feel comfortable in the classroom environment. In
college NJs are the norm for professors. 247
• Judgers are more comfortable with rules and hierarchical systems than perceivers. INTJs
may not like an SJ level of control, but they have fewer problems with the system and its
rules than (say) INTPs. This reduces the amount of stress they experience in school.
However, there is one aspect of the judging preference that can put an INTJ at a disadvantage.
Judgers are more likely to do schoolwork which they find dull and pointless than perceivers. One
might think that this is a good thing, and certainly it improves INTJ grades and helps them get
through school more smoothly. However, it can also lead to some problems—especially for gifted
INTJs.
Ruf (2008) ran a program for parents of gifted children who were having problems in school (read
here). After typing more than three hundred kids and parents, she found was that although the
parents could be any type, the children were mainly Perceivers to the tune of 92% P. Where were
all the Judgers? Ruf had an idea: “P-Perceiving children are less likely to finish their work or stay
on task when they find the work to be tedious or uninteresting than are J-Judging students. To me,
this suggested that within the student population, there were many gifted children whose
245 Tieger & Barron-Tieger, 1997
246 DiTibeiro; Sears, Kennedy, & Kaye in Beckham, 2012. Hoffman & Betkouski in Kent & Fisher, 1997
247 DiTibeiro; Sears, Kennedy, & Kaye in Beckham, 2012.