dannyhiga

jonathanpham:

Education doesn’t necessarily make you smarter. Intelligence is a concept of relativity, and the standards we compare them to have changed over time—divided into separate categories more than anything.

Sure, you’re at a prestigious school that teaches you how to analyze famous literary works, the art of rhetoric, societal ethics, etc. Your professors have passed on their knowledge to you about their respective fields of study and now you can write a bunch of essays in a scholarly manner. Deep stuff. But what is it that makes you believe you’re at a higher level of intelligence? That you can carry on a debate with good evidence? That you can reiterate everything your professor taught you? You’re just a song that’s been long overplayed. You’re an idea that has abandoned originality.

They say that with new skills, your brain rewires some circuits here and there, and you lose a bit of what you once knew. I get the feeling that you’ve learned a lot, but you’ve forgotten the morals that once constituted—what you and I believed—was a beautiful life. Don’t get me wrong, you’re a figure that has amassed a whole helluva lot of knowledge. However, you’ve also forgot some things, like how to respect people no matter what their standing in life is. Wealthy or poor. Clean or raggedy. Academically smart or getting there. You forget to acknowledge the diversity of the world’s beliefs and lifestyles that you’ve become a being of ignorance. Has your empathy for others dropped in the gutter? I hope not.

Being smart isn’t only a matter of knowing mankind’s scientific and philosophical achievements, but also about how to carry on yourself as a person. I’m sure from reading this, you can find grammatical and organizational errors everywhere. Like I really give a what. All I’m asking is that you don’t miss the point.

(via mellokitty)