What do you think is wrong with me? Hard time understanding abstract ideas.

[jaojohnson1]

I seem to have trouble understanding abstract ideas. I'm terrible in both english and math because it's so abstract. Is there a condition or name for this?

What can I do to correct this? Is there any way around it? Please I'm very desperate and in need of help. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[liza123]

Are you studing both Maths and English?
 
With regards to improving your command of the English language, try reading lots of English books. Read about subjects that really interests you.

Perhaps, you can tell me why it is very important that you should improve both English and Maths.

[jaojohnson1]

Thank you for commenting.

It's important so I can move on and maybe go to college. There is no way I can hack college if I do not learn to think "outside the box" or find a way to learn abstract thought.

For example. Take a simple noun. It can be concrete like house or dog and I will have no problem with this. But when it becomes an idea or abstract like democracy or independence I can't recongize them. Same with mathematics when it comes to algebra I'm so lost and that is killing me.

I'm so depressed over this and very desperate for advice.

[Enigma]

Have you thought about why you don't understand abstract concepts?  You understand the concept of abstractness, which in itself is an abstract concept.  

Lets look at the definition of democracy.  

democracy
 - 5 dictionary results
de?moc?ra?cy
??/d??m?kr?si/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [di-mok-ruh-see] Show IPA
Use democracy in a Sentence
See web results for democracy
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–noun, plural -cies.
1.    government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
2.    a state having such a form of government: The United States and Canada are democracies.
3.    a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.
4.    political or social equality; democratic spirit.
5.    the common people of a community as distinguished from any privileged class; the common people with respect to their political power.

Can you tell me what exactly it is that you do not understand or have trouble grasping?  Does the language confuse you?

Take this definition from the Simple English Wikipedia.

Democracy
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A democracy (a word from the Greek language, meaning rule by the people) is a form of government. In a democracy, certain people of a community choose their leaders. There are different ways to do this, but the process is usually called holding an election.  Political parties are involved with politics. It may therefore look easy to pick a political party. The party that gets elected will then choose people to lead.  Very often those leaders will also decide the laws.  In a democracy, there are elections every few years where the people can vote and choose who they want to lead them, or choose the laws. The decision is made based on the number of votes. The side with the most votes wins.  Examples of democracies are India, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States.


Kinds of Democracy

There are two kinds of democracy: Direct and Indirect (also known as Representative democracy).
In Direct Democracies, everyone has the right to make laws together. One modern example of direct democracy is a referendum, which is the name for the kind of way to pass a law where everyone in the community votes on it. Direct democracies are not used to run countries, because it is hard to get millions of people to get together all the time to make laws and other decisions.
In an Indirect, or Representative Democracy, people choose representatives to make laws for them. These people can be mayors, councilmen, Members of Parliament, or other government officials. This is a much more common kind of democracy. Large communities like cities and countries use this method, but it may not be needed for a small group.

 History

This kind of government was developed long ago by the ancient Greeks in the city of Athens. They had everyone who was a Citizen (Slaves, Women, Foreigners, and Children could not vote) get together in one area. The Assembly would talk about what kinds of laws they wanted and voted on them. The Council would suggest the laws. In the Assembly, the participants are only the citizens. In the Council, they would pick them by draws(lot). The participants in the Council would change every year and the amount of people in the Council is maximum 500. The Greek citizens would pick a leader by writing the name of their favorite candidate on a piece of stone or wood. The candidate with the most votes became the leader.

Does that make it easier to understand?

[jaojohnson1]

Thank you for replying.

Well none of those definitions confuses me. It's when I work with an abstract object in my mind I seem to get confused. It's like building a bridge and having the pieces fall apart behind you and when turn to look at what you built it's gone. It doesn't last long in my mind. I have better luck with something more physical which I can see working because for some reason I can remember it and have more of a foundation to work with. - Does that make any sense? I'm so weired I know. Thank you again.

[voodoo scientist]

My initial thought when I first read this thread was that you were just not that intelligent, but now that's obviously not the case. People are wired to deal with problems in different ways. You might be particularly disinclined towards data-based learning and actually need visual, tactile or some other input format. This can be a real hassle in our society, because almost all higher learning requires you to read books - lots of books, and absorb lots of information from them.

It can be a hassle to deal with, but it's not insurmountable. Try drawing what you're thinking about, make charts and schemas, read out loud. You might even just need to write it down in your own words as you read. Experiment with different learning methods and see if you have different results.

[Enigma]

Have you ever taken one of those tests that shows you what type of learner you are?

[voodoo scientist]

Maybe you should take one of those IQ tests while you're taking useless and inaccurate tests anyway.