Upper Sixth Clarity4D Course

What makes you you? Is it how other people see you, or is it how you see yourself? Well if you ask any of the Chengelo Upper Sixth students, they’d be able to tell you it’s a combination of both. 

We spent yet another day at the famous Ndubaluba, but this day was different from others. The day was spent talking (yes, talking and not getting smothered with muck) about personality. Personality is what makes you a unique individual; everyone has a different combination of all the four personality types, although in most cases one or two always stand out a bit above the rest.

We had the focused ‘Reds’, the logical ‘Blues’, patient ‘Greens’ and the fun-loving ‘Yellows’.

I, myself, was a combination of red and yellow. It’s weird to think of someone as focused and fun-loving… Focused on having fun, I guess?

Clarity4D is what this intriguing course is called. The ‘4D’ represents the four dimensions of the personality profile.

The first dimension: Discover. We each had to fill out a questionnaire beforehand which generated an analysis of our personalities. We each received a printed copy of our results and we all read through our profile. You could hear the exclamations around the room, “This is so me!” and, “How did they know that?!” It was like taking a peek into our own minds, as if we were actually seeing ourselves for the first time – our personality being put into words. It felt weird: a computer programme could provide an accurate account of who we were from 20 simple questions, almost as if we weren’t as unique as we thought we were.

Then came the second dimension: Discuss. We had the opportunity to hear feedback from other people about our own profiles. Included here was communication, where we learnt how to better interact with the different personalities. This was all very helpful for the last stage.

The third dimension: Diversification. We had to analyse our weaknesses as an individual and think about what we can do to handle or change them.

Lastly, the fourth dimension: Development. We had to make a game plan on how we can become the person we aspire to be. This didn’t mean we had to change our entire personality, it just meant we identified the weaknesses of our predominant ‘colours’ and had a think about how they may affect us and how to rise above them.

As we went on to learn later that day, personality was just the beginning. It was true that we all had a predominant colour, but we all had different percentages of the four. That is what makes individuals, not simply blobs of colour on paper. Another thing that makes us different is character, which – despite there being many global debates on the matter – we agreed is not the same as personality. Character differs from personality. By way of illumination, take this: you are a strong ‘Red’, which will make you more inclined to be assertive and domineering, but your character will determine if you are going to use those traits to hurt or help people.

By the end of the day, we were all emotionally exhausted and ready for a good long nap. Apart from craving our beds, we felt closer as a form and understood each other more. We now know how to communicate better with each other as we have more knowledge on how each other’s brains work.

Celia Sherriff, Upper Sixth Student