I've come to believe that for those people, it is a social learning disability. It seems just so hardwired and set. I've had discussions with quite a few people on here, and in real life, who simply could not give an inch. Whether it's a defense mechanism, a form of low end of the spectrum autism, or some other diagnosis, it's always befuddled me. You meet so many people who are just not like that ... totally able to consider that there is indeed diversity in thought process.
As a guidance counsellor, I dealt with teachers who were thrown several professional diagnoses about a particular student it would make your head spin. Family doctors, district psychiatrists, other teachers, administration, and myself from observation, all said the same thing ... that a certain child actually learned at a slower rate, and would learn just as well by doing less rote exercise. But the teacher adamantly and stubbornly disagreed ... why? Because it was unfair to other students to expect less work from one. Parents finally moved the kid to a new school.
But when 'manure' becomes that hardwired, there has to be a reason. I have no other explanation that it's a learning disability, and the rest of us have unrealistic expectations because of it. Better to give up the discussion quickly (maybe after 3 or 4 rigid fixed comments) than to continue some ridiculous discussion that will surely end nowhere.
