But, He Has a Ph.D In BS! It Must Be True!
Posted by Socrates in book smart versus life smart, college, educated morons, education, intellectuals, intelligence, universities at 5:25 pm | 
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Good points are made here. (I might add a personal experience: I knew a very smart man. He had a Ph.D in biology. He was “book smart” but sadly, he wasn’t “life smart.” He couldn’t change a flat tire on a car if you held a gun to his head and told him how to do it. There are some “book smart” people who are shockingly stupid — many of them wear sandals and live in California. You need several types of smart in this world).
“I am not implying that all rote learning is bad. One learns ballet by the studious application of all that is taught. There are few facts to dispute. Much of mathematics and music falls into this category because that training has been demonstrated, time and again, by its predictable results. It’s only when we enter the realm of who said what, when, and who did what to whom, do we get into fairyland and extreme subjectivity – arguments over hearsay. Asking a gazelle its opinion of the lion is not an objective way to ascertain facts about lions. No one will ever find the truth concerning Nazi Germany in any Hollywood dogmadrama.”