Quiet - A Personal Story

Sometimes you read a book that truly does change your life. Susan Cain's "Quiet" is that book for me. I had known for years that I was an introvert, and that I had been in some ways oppressed by extroverts my whole life. But this book put the science into western society's "extrovert ideal" that defined me as somehow "defective" and the science put the lie to the whole mythology about personality.
High school is no bowl of cherries for anybody, and I was no exception. But I had a few friends and a few activities that mattered to me, and despite not being anywhere near the "popular crowd," I had earned a measure of respect. I had carved out a niche for myself in which I could survive, and in some ways, thrive. I assumed that this would be the case once I grew up as well.
Then came the test. It was supposed to be a "scientific" way to match personality and interests to potential career options. My results, however, were something of a scandal. I was told that the only job I would ever enjoy or be able to do would be "somewhere way up on a mountain top where there were no people for hundreds of miles." So according to the adults and to "science," I was set to be a colossal failure as an adult and unfit for the job market. I was "defective."
I won't go into what such "results" do to a relatively happy, confident 15-year-old. I will just hope that there have been some changes to the way these tests are "interpreted." I was in no way "defective," or unemployable. I only wish I could have had Ms. Cain's book back then to prove just how wrong and wrong-headed adults could be.