Here’s something interesting…
So Maclean’s did a nice article about a recent study measuring “Learning,” from the Canadian Council of Learning. The name of the article is “Canada’s Smartest Cities.”
But I wondered about the difference or connection between Smarts and Learning, so I did a search of the meaty 45-page report – and found zero (nada, zilch, l’oeuf) instances of the word “Smart.” The authors were plainly sensitive to the issues surrounding labeling something as “smart.”
I’ve wondered about this frequently. Is it elitist to value higher education? By celebrating smartness, are we in essence devaluing those who have not had the opportunities or chosen the path to higher learning?
I confess, I enjoy being around smart people. I find a strong connection between well-educated people and those who are open, tolerant, inquisitive, far seeing, and inclusive. But I’ve also found some of the most maddening people in well-educated professionals – rude, selfish, entitled, unsympathetic, and petty. (They make me want to hang out in a trailer park, or some other low-rent neighborhood where anything goes.)
I still think that the educational attainment of city or community is one of the best measures of a place’s quality of life. Generally, better-educated citizenry make tougher and better decisions for the future, and see value in making a community better for all, not just their peers.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I suspect we’re talking about three things which often overlap, at least in affluent societies, but aren’t necessarily always related.
Smart — inquisitive, curious, able to make connections, able to use logic or intuition to reach workable conclusions, often have talents in one or more areas.
Educated — Were able to stick out four or more years and get a degree or two.
Learned — Educated, formally or informally, and have acquired a substantial body of knowledge.
Higher education certainly has its uses, but it isn’t a predictor of smartness. None of the above three makes one a nice person, which is maybe another kind of intelligence.
September 20th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Learning, is it what your parents, friends, teachers, professors, bosses have tried to impose on you?
Or is what you have learned by being driven by intrinsic forces, have taken the action, the failing, the learning and redoing?
I would definitely vote for the second answer and with some incentives from your parents, teachers, professors and bosses you will find the niche in the world, where you can put your strengths into play (after you have learned to see and use them).
A common ground of learning experience, and outside knowledge can be very worthwhile for seeing the connection with the real life later on.
Smart are the ones who see the connections and are able to connect their strengths with others’ in order to achieve more (for both – at least).
Cheers,
Ralf
September 20th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Thanks for the comments, Michael and Ralf.
Those are good insights into the nuances of ‘intelligence,’ to be all this under one umbrella.
A few more thoughts…
> Learning is … what parents … tried to impose on you?
I’ve heard it said that no one is sorry that they were made to take piano lessons.
Speaking of music, I’m always surprised at the number of hugely-skilled classical musicians who can’t play a tune without the sheet music. Skilled, definitely; learned, oh yeah; smart, maybe no so much?
In the critically important fields of finance and national governance, an awful lot of learned and well-educated people have made huge mistakes over the past few years,
I wonder at what point we can take all this and get to the next level, and achieve ‘wisdom?’
Best, Bert
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:28 am
Isn’t Ralf’s definition of “learning” actually “teaching”?
Learning is surely the skills that you develop, whether passively or actively. Teaching is the active input by a teacher or tutor or other “pedagogue”.
In other words, the teacher may have an “objective” that s/he wants the audience to learn, but the audience may learn other skills that are entirely accidental from the “lesson”.
So your parents may have forced you to learn the piano in order to develop a taste for classical music, say – but you “learn” that you hate classical music and that in fact you would rather be out skating – you’ve learnt that you prefer skating, and you learn how to explain to your parents that you resent their manipulating, or you learn how to politely sit through your piano lesson or you learn how to feign illness just before your lesson. All of that is the learning, not just the piano skills….
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Ah, wisdom!
I think this takes us into another sphere. I said the above 3 don’t make you a nice person, but wisdom requires at least compassion — niceness may be a little mild for it.
Wisdom certainly requires learnedness, a lot of knowledge about the world and human beings. Being smart may help. Formal education probably doesn’t figure into it at all.
I like Daniel’s last paragraph, learning incorporates whatever we gather from our experiences, which may or may not include formal lessons. I suspect I learned practically nothing from high school classes, but a lot about human nature and social structure.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I’m not sure where this fits into the discussion, but the MacArthur Foundation just announced its “Genius Grants”.
http://www.macfound.org/
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:08 pm
> the MacArthur Foundation just announced its “Genius Grants
Thanks for sending, Michael.
Darn, looks like my ‘Jelly of the Month” gift to the selection committee didn’t do the trick. Next year, I’m pulling out the big guns – dried fruit.
Looking over all the awards in field of music, I am struck by large number of jazz musicians… even a jazz critic. I did not see any country, rock or folk musicians mentioned (though I might have missed them.)
Might have learn more jazz. I’ll start with that old Canadian jazz standard – “Take the Train, Eh”.
b.