Does academia disfavor contextual and extraverted students?

Abstract

In a study conducted at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), 288 students volunteered to answer an electronic questionnaire constructed to classify their personality type (16 categories), their work habits and preferences, operational values and preferred direction (leadership). In addition, examination grades from nine undergraduate subjects, some mathematical and some non-mathematical, were obtained for the same students. Statistical analyses revealed a clear connection between grades and certain personality characteristics. This should by no means interpreted as differences in skills, but rather as an indication of biased teaching style and pedagogical structure in the university. The results across all the nine subjects show that the traditional teaching structure in universities with lectures in large auditoriums with limited dialogue, a rigid and structured curriculum, textbook reading and paper-and-pencil tests, clearly disfavors students who can be characterized as extraverted and contextual/relational, and to some extent also those who are intuitive and feeling. Among these students, we typically find those who are altruistic, creative and out-of-the box thinkers. It is suggestive that academia, probably to a large extent, fails to bring such resourceful people to positions where their talents can really make a difference, for instance in research.