ENTPs are curious people who use their impressive brains to understand the world in a wholly unique way that no other type can match. In academics, they’re usually full of questions as well as answers, and take a great deal of pleasure in the process of learning, though they usually don’t have as much interest in the end result.
The ENTPs Learning Style
ENTPs are active people who love to be out in the world. They use extraverted intuition as their primary function, a much misunderstood function that explores the external world and uses advanced pattern recognition to learn and to understand things. This function is coupled with introverted thinking, which allows them to take in extraordinary amounts of data, separate the strands of it, and store it neatly in their heads. This means that ENTPs are almost like walking computers, with lots of information in their heads that they can access quickly and smoothly, which often makes them seem as if they know everything.
ENTPs like to use their incredible memories to debate other people. This is one of their favorite things to do, and it’s also one of their favorite ways to learn. ENTPs aren’t debating to cause trouble, or to make other people seem stupid. They really want to learn, experience and know, and the best way to do this is to explore what other people know, pick apart their arguments, and work out if they’re right or not. If they are right, the ENTP will quickly change their own mind because they have a flexibility that allows them to do this easily. And if the other person is not right, the ENTP will take a great deal of pleasure in setting them straight.
Learning Challenges for the ENTP
ENTPs love to learn new things but they don’t often do well in a formal learning environment. This type prefer to learn in the real world, by interacting with things and pressing buttons, and can struggle if they’re forced to sit down and study in silence. High school in particular is often difficult for this type, who don’t see the point of sitting quietly and memorizing facts. They also have an independence of thought that means they won’t accept this structure just because social norms claim it as the best way to learn. In fact, this type, with their agile brains that like to connect ideas and uncover problems in the world, are the most likely to see the serious problems that exist in the education system and refuse to simply accept them as the way things are.
ENTPs in High School
ENTPs often have a difficult time in high school. They think so differently to the other students, and often to their teachers, that it can make them feel as if they’re completely isolated from others. ENTPs are extremely rational and logical and they struggle to understand their own emotions and the emotions of others. In fact, this will be an issue that they face throughout their lives, but it’s usually worse in high school. The ENTP will find themselves surrounded by irrational outbursts of emotion, most of which they struggle to process and understand. And the ENTP themselves will remain cool and detached most of the time, which will often cause others to pull away from them. This will be true until something or someone pushes the ENTP beyond their limits. And when this happens, the ENTP will explode in a shower of harsh criticisms that usually just alienates them further.
Despite their problems relating to others, ENTPs usually do well in high school. Their auxiliary function will be developing at about this time, which often gives them absolutely amazing memories and is a very helpful trait in tradition schools. ENTPs are usually able to memorize countless facts and figures, which will serve them well in tests and result in very good marks. However, their true intellectual power runs deeper than that. They like to use knowledge until they understand it, and this tendency isn’t encouraged in school. This can result in the ENTP feeling very dissatisfied with the results of their academic efforts and lead to them longing for the day when they finish school and can go out into the real world. Because of this, many ENTPs leave high school as soon as they can in pursuit of knowledge that fits better with their natural learning style.
Higher Education and the ENTP
ENTPs don’t always choose to go into formal schooling straight after high school. This type tends to think of high school as a means to an end, and once it’s over they vanish into the world. This may be a great way to learn about the world, and fit better with the ENTPs learning style, but it can limit their future job opportunities. Most ENTPs do well if they take a year off between high school and higher education and travel or explore the world in some other way. With that break in the middle, they can work out for themselves if higher education is necessary for the achievement of their goals and come back to their schooling with more maturity and a renewed purpose.
Once they’re in higher learning, and if they’ve developed the right attitude to the process, ENTPs can do really well. They use an intuitive function, which means that they fit well with the learning goals and structures of college and also with the teachers as well. A lot of higher education is naturally aimed more at people who use intuitive functions than those who use sensing functions. College settings, with their focus on independent learning and abstract thought, is often one place in which ENTPs can shine with their extremely rational but still speculative way of thinking.
Final Thoughts
ENTPs love to learn and formal schooling can be a part of that, but isn’t always. This type prefers to learn by living life and exploring the world, and often see formal schooling as a means to an end rather than something to enjoy in itself. This can create problems for them in school environments, but these problems don’t change the success they often experience through their academic endeavors.
References
- Storm Susan. “Understanding ENTP Intuition“. Mar 23, 2017. (Retrieved Mar 2018).
- Storm Susan. “How You Use Introverted Thinking Based On Its Location in Your Function Stack“. Jan 24, 2017. (Retrieved Mar 2018).
- “ENTP – The Inventor“.