Book Smart vs Street Smart

Truthfully, I had to fight back from writing about “The Myth of Peace” to write about this particular subject matter.

Who is a smart person?

This is a question that rings continually in my mind.

What does it take to be smart?

To be fair and before I get into the tea for today, let me start by dropping this quote by Socrates;

“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”

With deep introspection, you’d agree with me that learning which is the skill to acquiring knowledge never really ends.

Thanks to having an educational law background, I am also reminded of this controversial quote by lawyers popularly countered by Lord Denning “God forbid that a lawyer knows all the law… but a good lawyer is one who knows where to find the law.”

To be fair again, judging from the story of “the wisest man alive” King Solomon, you can also tell that even the knowing is useless without discernible actions.

Well, moving forward, I thought and broke down what Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines SMART as “HAVING OR SHOWING A HIGH DEGREE OF MENTAL ABILITY”, hence today’s subject matter

BOOK SMART
I honestly think I fall into this category; shout out to the global academia and intellectuals.
Still, I do not think we are superior to the latter.
I mean, there are also cons.
Many times or not (just an opinion, I stand corrected), this group embodies those with the quest of academic curiosity about the world, most times if not many, a love for reading and in few unmentionables, “trauma response to seeking validation”.

Hear me out, there are similar actions but if you look closely, you’ll see different intents. And you know that is what matters right?

Well, like I said earlier, there are demerits, so people who fall under this category are not exactly smart when it comes to navigating through real life situations and interpersonal skills hence mostly naive, easily manipulated and make bad judgment.

So, you see, there isn’t so much character development on this part.

STREET SMART
I’m sure you already pictured hoodlums and agberos aka touts. Relax. Hahahaha
In my opinion, as opposed to the popular perspective “people who fall under this are unintelligent”, they are actually emotionally intelligent.
Now, you must also bear in mind that while intelligence means the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations, it also means the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one’s environment.

Do you now see where I am headed? If yes, super good!

The interesting part of this group is also the fact that, regardless of little, moderate or no level of “academic education”, you realize that life is indeed a school with its best and only teacher being “Experience“.

Truth is, there is no structured knowledge “asides the word of God” that anyone can rely on to deal with practical life problems. Read Romans 12:2

You see how I use the term “Word Of God”? That is to empathize with the various beliefs of my readers. I don’t care about doctrines but I believe in one supreme being.

The cons however is the, lack of discipline and self-control. Like I said earlier, it isn’t really in the knowledge but actions and we can see how that played out in King Solomon’s life (See 1st King Chapter 11)

In conclusion, let me end this by quoting the amazing evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa, “Intelligent people lack common sense because their general intelligence overrides it. Thereby thinking in situations where they are supposed to be feeling.”

And you know what they say about common sense?

Love and Light!