This is a relevant post I made quite a while ago, it sums up my thoughts on the matter (rather well, in my incredibly humble opinion):
"Grades are only a measure of a student's ability to function within a particular set of rules. I suppose you could call that intelligence, but doing well in the standard educational system is something I would call a skill. It is a skill to be able to provide what is asked of you. It is a skill to be able to relay information from one source to another - and if you think about it, this is all you're doing in almost every aspect of a typical school. When a teacher calls on you, you're asked to simply vocalize a memorized piece of information. On a test, you are transferring facts from a textbook to bubbles on a paper. On an essay, you are transferring ideas from one document to the next and putting your name on it. One COULD write an essay with a unique expansion on certain ideas, but not only is that rare - it's unnecessary for fulfilling our functional expectations.
There's no need to internalize or explicate any of the ideas presented to you in school - you need only prove that you've heard these things and are capable of writing them on a piece of paper or saying them out loud before they slip out of your mind. Contrary to popular belief, school is not exactly about learning, it's about function. It's about being prepared for the structure of society. That's why things like art, music, philosophy, theater, physical education, etc are sidelined as extracurricular or nonexistent, because that's what they are in society! Those things don't provide a successfully functioning person.
I think that may be why we become obsessed with people who ARE successful in these fields - singers, actors, sports stars. Celebrities. Not doctors, engineers, or historians. Maybe they're fascinating to us because they represent something outside of typical function. Think about it - why DO they earn so much money and fame? Because they're entertaining? I think they're famous because they successfully operate outside of typical societal functionality."
Have you ever been in a relationship with someone....
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This is a relevant post I made quite a while ago, it sums up my thoughts on the matter (rather well, in my incredibly humble opinion):
"Grades are only a measure of a student's ability to function within a particular set of rules. I suppose you could call that intelligence, but doing well in the standard educational system is something I would call a skill. It is a skill to be able to provide what is asked of you. It is a skill to be able to relay information from one source to another - and if you think about it, this is all you're doing in almost every aspect of a typical school. When a teacher calls on you, you're asked to simply vocalize a memorized piece of information. On a test, you are transferring facts from a textbook to bubbles on a paper. On an essay, you are transferring ideas from one document to the next and putting your name on it. One COULD write an essay with a unique expansion on certain ideas, but not only is that rare - it's unnecessary for fulfilling our functional expectations.
There's no need to internalize or explicate any of the ideas presented to you in school - you need only prove that you've heard these things and are capable of writing them on a piece of paper or saying them out loud before they slip out of your mind. Contrary to popular belief, school is not exactly about learning, it's about function. It's about being prepared for the structure of society. That's why things like art, music, philosophy, theater, physical education, etc are sidelined as extracurricular or nonexistent, because that's what they are in society! Those things don't provide a successfully functioning person.
I think that may be why we become obsessed with people who ARE successful in these fields - singers, actors, sports stars. Celebrities. Not doctors, engineers, or historians. Maybe they're fascinating to us because they represent something outside of typical function. Think about it - why DO they earn so much money and fame? Because they're entertaining? I think they're famous because they successfully operate outside of typical societal functionality."