Book smart

Book smart is an idiom commonly used to describe people who are able to succeed with scholastics, but tend to lack street smarts. Street smart is a term used to describe people that are able to survive without formal education. As is made evident with these two terms, it is commonplace in society to drift from the real meaning of things.

One of the most unintelligent girls I’ve ever met was the valedictorian of her class in high school. In fact, another girl that was a fun-loving friend of mine, who would probably round out my top five least intelligent people category, was the valedictorian for another class. I knew some other people that took a number of SAT classes before they took the actual test. Who would have guessed-- they did better than the people that didn’t study any for the SAT.

So what do these people have in common? They studied all the time. There is no big mystery or secret formulas involved. Hard work is admirable when it’s with honest intentions and there are plenty of people with no intention of doing anything but working hard to achieve a goal. More often than not,though, is the chance that a person is working to validate their egos with letters on a report card, fanciful degrees and titles.

I've always associated being book smart with having a high Intelligence Quotient. I also have always associated having street smarts with having a high Emotional Intelligence (I decided to save time and just add a link to a thorough explanation of IQ and EQ-- it's the same article linked at the bottom). Nowadays, it seems that the 'what' is always addressed when forming opinions and making statements, but not the 'why' or 'how'. Book smart these days, to me, seems to be in referral to someone that isn’t smart; is someone who, after days of studying, can do as well on a test as someone who didn’t study at all. Book smart shouldn't be in reference to someone that when given days and a text book will eventually be able to regurgitate the information. Book smart now seems to be a word that takes into account only the 'what' in any circumstance. Someone who gets an "A" in something automatically is associated with book smarts; even if they studied 10 times that of the average student, it is the end result that the word has become associated with.

The first time I felt the creeping feeling of a contradiction was when one of the valedictorian girls, realizing amidst one of our conversations just how palpable the difference in our intelligence levels was and blurted out, as if for the first time she was cognizant of her own being and was finally able to decipher the gravity of her own words, “I am book smart, though.” Book enabled, yes. A good student, yes. A very dedicated student, yes. Smart, as in the denotation, no. You can be book smart, but not if you study twice as much as the status quo, as she did; not if you struggle to understand books and people-- everything. This is why I wanted to bring the subject up in the first place. I'm not sure if it is because as a society we are conditioned to hide any weakness in our collective intelligence or because most people just don't pay any attention to or understand the connotations and even the denotations of their words.

The distinction should be as such: book smart is someone who excels in their studies and ascertains information--both qualitative and quantitative-- at an increased speed and efficiency as compared to other people (students). Someone who gets an "A" in a class but studies twice as much as someone with an equivalent grade is a hard worker-- a good student.

If my convictions hold true, a hard worker is one of the most venerable types of people. I understand the need to replace the association of hard work to get a good grade with intelligence as the key factor for reasons associated with self-efficacy, but I don’t understand why hard work gets brushed under the table. What is so bad about achieving something through ambition and determination? That, I feel, is the issue at hand.

Hard work is something that translates universally. Whether at home, at work, or in other daily endeavors, hard work is something that portrays a person’s demeanor rather than soliciting it. One characteristic of hard work is dedication. Dedication is a manifested fervor that binds one to their endeavors, morals and loyalties. Without dedication to something-- a purpose or an ideal-- there is no standard by which one can measure oneself and subsequently nothing to connect their actions and emotions to. A man (woman) without a purpose has no premises with which to be checked. Intelligence is only as good as the purpose that drives and gives meaning to it. However, hard work isn't just some atavistic instinct. Hard work for mankind is knowledge of a purpose, a duty, or a loyalty to something. Hard work is a strict adherence to one's morals and righteousness; adhering to principles that one understands and is bound by even in the presence of idle malevolence that shows no recognition of a moral code or a desire to fulfill any expectation required of them; the adherence to a purpose that demands deference and shows understanding. Hard work is an expression of intelligence.

Our society is based upon birth rights. We don’t believe that people can succeed or become better with proper instruction and ambition. Asian peoples have earned the stereotype of intelligent because they work hard through school and they don’t question intelligence as they work toward their goal. Parents demand their children apply themselves in school and work toward their goals. They are strict in their expectations and won’t accept anything but the completion of their children’s goals.

As a society, we need to rid ourselves of the self-fulfilling prophesies.