I've been going to a grammar school, one of the top twenty schools in the country, for the past four years. My whole life, I've been deemed as a 'smart' person, because I am good at algebra and wear glasses. There are people who can't add numbers, or spell, or anything.

But I just don't think you can measure someone based on how well they can add or spell or whatever. People are all smart in different ways, and I don't get why we have to distinguish between people, always aim for top marks, etc.

Its peoples opinions that make a person a person.

Discuss.

this

for me, being smart = having wisdom. (hold on, don't get the wrong idea, keep reading)
knowledge = knowing rote information and facts. usually what people want when they say, "i wish i was smart."
wisdom = knowing how to apply knowledge to life in order to improve your life and the lives of others. how to use the info you have to make a difference. that is wisdom, imo.

i get a's and b's in school (high school). the only reason i don't get straight a's is laziness, i think. lots of people wish they "were smart" like me. but i don't know.... when people who are much nicer than me, or have a better set of morals, i sometimes envy them. my level of maturity is probably not on the same level as that of others'..... knowledge seems to be easier for me to acquire due to two things: 1) i've had a college reading level since fourth or fifth grade (i read Uncle Tom's Cabin in fifth grade, and understood it, i think) and 2) a really good memory for written texts (probably a consequence of the first). but i know there's always someone who's better than me, in all aspects. so i try to keep my head down, and not flaunt things like that.

case in point: up until i was in high school, i always hung out with the really smart, "nerdy" kids. often, they were jerks, due to their "superiority" of grades. i always thought i belonged in that group, but somehow, never really fit in. however, at the end of eigth grade, most of my friends moved away within a month of each other (military families suck like that; i wouldn't wish this on any other kid, ever) and the others all suddenly started talking crap about me or drifted apart. so, come ninth grade, i was pretty much friendless. at this point, i stopped caring about grades so much, and just tried to be more sociable and friendly. and whaddya know, i suddenly got a bunch of good friends.

flash forward to deccember 2009: i moved away from all the good friends i made in the above paragraph. went through a bit of depression, during which i was having to adjust to a new school. unfortunately, i somehow forgot all of the lessons i learned, and as a result, anybody that tried to help me or show me a bit of friendliness seems to pretty much avoid me. so, to drive this point home: grades won't get you everything. i want to try being more friendly, and have more friends.

son why people want to always have the best grades: good grades in high school = scholarships to go to college; good grades in college = easier to get high paying job; good job = money, and everyone wants money. but there are people who simply by the drive of their will and mettle have been able to be really successful in life. so i think the peoople who are truly the most smart (in this aspect) are the ones who try their hardest.

hope i contributed to this discussion XD

i don't think one person is above another though, just because of how educated, or smart they are. someone who can't do maths isn't less of a person, and someone who can isn't better than anyone else.

i think i may drop out of school next year, when i've finished GCSEs. i don't really want a big, well paid job, i just need something that pays enough so i don't starve and die. i want to sing though, and that will be where i put most of my time, but i don't mind how many people like my music, i just have to feel pleased with what i've done.

i know, i'm not trying to say that one person is above another due to some or other skill. sorry if it came off that way. i totally agree with Frost and IX.

I'm a relativity good student when it comes to grades...usually. This last year was kind of a crap shoot because of my AP U.S. History course (hate history). But I don't do badly. This last trimester, I could whip together a speech the night before and get an A on my presentation. And most of the time, when I do badly, it's when I don't actually take the time to look at the material.

I'm good creatively and logically (I love math, science and art with quite a bit of literature) but my spelling is crap and If this wasn't on a computer with spell check you would all think I was in 5th grade.

But I always have people cooing over me saying "I wish I could do that..." when they are getting the better grade. It's mostly "I wish I could absorb information like you," and all I can think is, no you don't, because then you would have never learned how to study! I have no idea, interest or discipline for studying. I take notes when the teacher says so. I never look back at my notebooks or trudge through my textbooks! My brain has gotten away with not reading so much that I hate reading unless it's for fun! If you tell me to read something I will drag my feet, guaranteed.

So people wish for my semi-sponge like brain and in reality, you'd be worse off. I have no idea what the hell I'm going to do for college. I'll probably bomb my first semester.


But on the flip side, I've always wanted to be that "wise person". The one that isn't exactly old and never really needed a curriculum but just knew, logically how everything works and could, not exactly show off, but present things to make it so other people understood what is happening. I think I'm working toward that, trying to be humble and a good man to everyone. I'm sure it'll be easier into my twenties but only time will tell.

Hmm... I went to an American public school, so I should be retarded by default. I finished in the bottom 1/3rd of my graduating class with a solid low D+ average. I'm a genuine college drop-out, and I'm on academic probation. I earn minimum wage at a pizza shop, and I live at home. Despite this, everyone in my family still maintain the fact that I'm smarter than any of them, and they find it super exciting when they ask me a question they can't answer (I have no **** clue why). The people I work with say the same thing, as well as the fact that I'm the hardest working person they know. So how could someone who's supposedly so intelligent and hardworking fail so hard at school?

Success is more a measurement of personality or certain characteristics rather than intelligence. While some jobs require a high degree of intelligence and the personality of a ham sandwich (such as a physicist), those people would struggle to advance in other fields such as bartending or politics which require quite the opposite. Intelligence is inherent; some people are just dumb. However, such a limitation has never stopped those people from finishing school, landing the perfect career, or sharing the road with us. Qualities such as ambition and focus can accomplish a lot.

Apparently, I lack one of these, but how smart someone is is difficult to measure considering personality affects greatly a person's desire to obtain and display his knowledge. I hope I expressed myself well enough, because I honestly don't care enough to reread this and make sure my points connect properly or add more to clarify my overall message.

I was always in the same boat. I'm plenty booksmart, and I can ace a test (either through memorization or just great bsing) with little effort. It's made college interesting, that's for sure.

One of the first things they told me when I got to college, in the first meeting of the "how to not fail at college" class everyone has to take, was that I should expect to do terribly my first semester. After all, the biggest detriment to my high school GPA was pulling B's in Phy Ed because I can't complete even the simplest of athletic activities up to par - I got A's without having to try. And I definitely carried that attitude to college - thankfully I learned real quick that it wasn't going to work anymore and managed to save my grades. But the lesson was still there - doing great in high school had made me lazy and disinterested, and could have absolutely bit me in the ass in college.

While my primary major is in Comp Sci, I'm also pursuing a full Math major as well, and it's simultaneously one of the most infuriating and satisfying things I've ever done. It's hard stuff - really, really hard. Several semesters now I've had two math classes at a time and been lucky to scrape C's in them, because I STILL haven't learned how to actually apply myself to my work. Despite that, I'm still sitting at a 3.5 overall GPA heading into my last two semesters of college, and now I'm up against two more math classes - Proof of Calculus and Senior Project. While I know I have the capacity to understand and learn the material, I also know it's still going to be a struggle to actually make myself TRY.

There's one professor who I really have to thank for making me better at this stuff too. She's an incredibly harsh grader, pulls no punches, and covers a lot of really difficult stuff on each test. I can honestly say that her classes have been the only times in my entire education where I have consistently had to actually push myself to succeed. And as much as I can hate doing the homework and get frustrated at all the work that can go into a single class, at the end of the day I'm genuinely grateful for it. The less-than-perfect grades kinda suck, but it's nice to actually have someone, for once in my life, actually make me have to TRY in order to succeed. It's something I really wish I had had in high school, instead of just being "the smart kid" all the time.

I've always been told I was smart, and I've always denied it. I may be able to get good grades with minimal effort, but like Frost, I find that the people telling me how smart I am are capable of so many things I could never accomplish. They can think and do things in ways I couldn't even imagine. There's always so much more I could learn from them and everyone else.

I've never taken a real IQ test, and don't know if I ever will. I really don't think it's good measurement. I do, however, plan to eventually take the Mensa test. (Somewhat contradictory statements, I know.) Anyone else taken either of those?

I took the Mega Test (not Mensa) and just never submitted any results, but I knew enough of the answers to actually pass and get into the Mega Society. Figured I shouldn't, though, seeing as I'm only 17 years old and I just thought that would be some sort of indication of "cheating." [sarcasm]After all, how could a 17 year old possibly legitimately get into a high-IQ organization without cheating?[/sarcasm]

I've been arguing with my mum recently because I've been saying I want to go to a college seperate from my school, because I just want to go somewhere I fit in more/have a new start really. She wants me to go to my school's sixth form, so I do better.

Uh, IQ tests are meant to be administered to any age. 4-year-olds can get into Mensa if they have enough of an attention span to actually sit down and take the test. One of the strengths of an IQ test is that it doesn't measure knowledge but reasoning. It's also one of their flaws - there can be a highly intelligent individual who's a genius at whatever they do but completely lacks reasoning and problem-solving skills outside their area of expertise and would thus do poorly on an IQ test.

One of the more interesting things I learned from my education classes is the Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

maybe people are smarter over all in terms of all multiple intelligences etc.

it doesn't make them a better person.

Yeah, I hear that serial killers are generally smart (they have to get away from the cops).

Albert Einstein and Thomas Jefferson dropped out of school, I think. Were they stupid? No, they were genius. Also, Einstein was said to be terrible at basic math; his wife did all the bills and what not. So a person can be bad at one thing and good at another, even in the same field. That's why there's no real, overall "smart". It just depends on how you apply your knowledge.

I believe the phrase is "multiple personalities, and it is not necessarily a good thing.

. . . . . It might be . . .

It isn't!

. . . . . I think it IS a good thing!

Yeah, but you're an idiot!

. . . . . You're always so mean!

Like I just said . . .

. . . . . . . . . . Can't we just get along for once, the world is so wonderful and we're all such beautiful people.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gawd! Would you all just shut up! I'm trying to sleep!

See what I mean . . .

Actually, I've always felt there was a huge difference between "knowledge" (such as that gained by an education from a university) and being "smart" (which I generally compare to having common sense and having a stable personality. I've known some people with multiple degrees who were dumber than a box of rocks. And some of the best people I've known only have high school educations. There's much more to living with yourself and getting by in this world than what you're going to learn in a University.

Just my two-cents worth. . .

einstein understood it, but he was so far ahead of his teachers that he failed. or that's the way that i always heard it.
@Barn Owl: i lol'd at the multiple personalities bit. but the other stuff makes sense. both my parents only have high school degrees, but my dad's pretty successful, and my mom is one of the smartest people i know.

I think I'm the one with the lowest grades in my entire class excluding this kid who got hit by a car and suffers brain damage.....but, I'm not stupid..I'm really not, my thought processes are way more advanced than my classmates, they're stupid compared to me in subjects that aren't on a test paper or a text book.

I dunno, I guess my brain is like a main road, with lots of cars driving down it, and new information are like cars coming from a side road trying to get onto the main road...the denser the traffic flow, the harder it is to get on, and my brain is always on the go....that's my problem, I think too much.

but bottom line is, looking at my grades, you'de say i was real stupid, discussing a serious topic, no chance.

i consider myself to be very smart. I got ok grade in high school and nevr went to college. I think intelligence is alot more than knowing alot of facts and stuff. there are many different types of intelligence. I have great eading comprehension skills and i absorb things i read best. also hands on stuff is really good for me too. my one drawback is I have auditory processing problems. Somebody can say something to me, and i will probably forget it soon after unless its really important, so i need to write alot of stuff down, and i tend to ask people to repeat things quite alot, so its frustrating but i think it dosent take away from intelligence its just something i need to work around. It can take me 5 or 6 times listening to a song in order to learn the lyrics. I think im artistically smart too but i lack inspiration.

I'm smart but lazy, the reason that I don't funk out is because I ace the test, i don't do homework and I never study. I'm studying to be an engineer so I'm taking over 18 credits a sementer, Its crazy hard. But on a math team test (Yes I'm a nerd) I which measure smarts based of 2 25 question tests ( With the High score of 24 for for my engineering college, Note 24 Total out of 50, over 2 tests), I scored an 20, taking only 1 of the 2 tests, i couldn't attend the second test. and won $50 which was 3rd prize.

I also hate typeing and writing and English in general which is why this is short. (Spelling too)

But I agree that smart is more than just Good grades and High test scores, My sister who is the smartest person I know (Valvictorian of her High school class) has ZERO common sense. I'd name some ways that she demonstrates this but that would be mean. I will say that she walked into a wall twice in the last year.

And I would say that I have plenty common sense.

I think I'm "smart" academically but other people have this perception i'm an idiot. Well I kinda am, the only reason I get moderately good grades is because I study hard. But yes I wish I had more common sense. Although I never really regret decision I make, it hurts me a little to have to admit I'm wrong when people say "why didnt you do that instead? idiot." So yes I wish I could make better decisions on the spot, if that counts as being smart too

I don't really judge people if they are clever or not. People are people I dont really care. I'm not going to like people better because they're smarter, or give them preferential treatment... But I do work harder because I know that it will be better for me in the long run, and I may as well milk out my money's worth...

When people call me smart I always use the old "that's cos I was whipped as a child, b+ = no rice" because its funny

I wrote an international mathematics test and got in the top 1% of everyone who wrote it. Yet I am envious of the people I know who cannot read a clock. Why? Because they are happy. They are the nicest people I know and they are always joyous, even when they get <25% on a test.

They continue on life thinking the world is a wonderful place. While I am in a psychologist's office. I spend my weekends studying up on Physics while they are having fun with their friends. It makes me ask myself, is it really worth it to be smart? Would I be happier if I was "stupid"? Even if I grow up to have some fancy job and make money hand over fist, I still won't be as happy as they would be. Even if they are making minimum wage.

As for the whole multiple intelligence topic, I strongly believe it is true. Some people are fabulous at the arts, or at personal relations. I cannot throw a ball to save my life, nor am I intune with nature. One's intelligence cannot be proven only by standardized tests.

Look at it this way, here are some "official" national IQ averages:

#1 Singapore ~ 108
#7= UK ~ 100
#10= USA ~ 98
#21= Iraq ~ 88
#30= Qatar ~ 78
[level of mild retardation ~ 75]
[IQ of most German Shepard dogs ~ 70]
#39= Chad ~ 68
#44 Equatorial Guinea ~ 59
[Estimated IQ of most Octupi/Level of Retardation ~ 50]
#52 Kyrgyzstan ~ 44

Personally, I wouldn't be too bothered about your IQ anyway, most geniuss (>170) end up clinically depressed and even if you're in the bottom in your class, the chances are you have an IQ around 100 which is still pretty good. Richard Branson, only has an IQ of 106, or so I am told. But, yeah IQ isn't gonna affect your general performance in life much anyway. The kid top of your class probably only had/has an IQ of about 115/120.

I have an IQ of 130, and i like it, i am considered as a kid with good grades in my class. However, i'm actually pretty lazy. Even if i have a good grades, i'm always late to give my homework to my teacher.

I don't know my true IQ, but I think It's pretty high. I have taken a multiple intelligences test, and I'm apparently very gifted with music. I'm also good with Logic/Math, and Nature, which is good, because I'm planning to be a Marine Biologist.