I was reading a comment thread recently.
One commenter stated that they are aware of the people who are “dumber” than them, and if they are not aware the person they are talking to is either similar in intelligence or smarter than they are.
So my question is, do you have this awareness?
Are you conscious of your relative standing in the intelligence hierarchy around you?
And a side point, can you tell a smart person is acting dumb to fit in with those around them?
I’m more aware that I don’t know shit.
I get irked by people acting like idiots, like most people, but I’ve seen enough to know that I’m only experiencing a snapshot of someone’s personality.
Everyone has their unique talents and areas of expertise. Some people are tired, hungry, stressed or have neurological differences that can impact their social behavior. Some folks just say dumb shit because they haven’t learned otherwise yet.
My awareness is of my own feelings about the people around me and understanding where those feelings come from. The moment I start generalizing someone as ‘dumb’ I know it’s time to reflect.
This is a good take.
I know many people who are not as academically smart as I am, but they are capable of doing many things I cannot. I find it weird, they are impressed by me doing things that are hard for them, but dismiss when they do things that are hard for me…humans can be strange creatures.
Even to say someone isn’t academically on your level is to accept academia as a monolith and not acknowledge the biases that influence people’s performance. Not all schools are the same, not all of them will cater to different learning styles and needs and not everyone has the same support structures, if any, to help them along.
For instance, I understand and retain information very well so I ace tests, but can’t show up on time to save myself. Even though I know and understand the information, I’m brought down by scheduling issues.
Another student said they were academically smarter than me because they got better grades, despite lower test scores, who also believed the moon landing was a hoax and vaccines cause autism.