Book Smarts vs Common Sense (bible, faith, Christians, believe)

[kawgpz550]

Ok, so this thread was inspired by another thread currently running. Since this is now "Religion and Philosophy", I think this question/poll is quite suitable.

I would just like to know what everyone's feelings are about this...Religion aside!

Which would you say is more important to get by in the world?

Book Smarts: Highly intelligent, very articulate, full of wisdom and knowledge of mathematical equations and scientific data and so on

Common Sense (This is a bit more complex to define): Understanding the difference between right or wrong, hot and cold, safe and dangerous and so on


Which would you rather have and/or would rather the majority of your peers have? Of course, we all know that we would all like to be blessed with a good balance of both. We also know that a lot of people possess both characteristics. BUT....we also know that there are MANY people that completely lack one or the other. However, just for fun, you can ONLY CHOOSE ONE!

Would you prefer someone that is a complete genius, but utterly lacks common sense?

OR

Would you prefer someone grounded in common sense despite their lack of book smarts?

[kawgpz550]

I guess I should have said to feel free to leave any comments you may have as well.


IMHO, I think common sense is the most important aspect of life. Sure, we need to be "smart" if we want to get anywhere in life, however, I think someone with common sense (and lower IQ) can get by better and safer than a genius that has no common sense. Of course, the "genius" is more likely to succeed financially, but I think there is much more to succeeding in life than being rich!

[Marodi]

If your a rocket scientist, but you neglect the fact that you left the range on with a towel ontop of it, when you go to bed, the intelligence means nothing.

[Mooseketeer]

Common sense every time. I have always felt that intelligence has nothing whatsoever to do with books.

Mainstream education and intellect are two completely different things.

Some of the brightest, most articulate people I know left school at 15 and are "self-taught" in the sense of education.

Common sense, logic and reason are not mutually exclusive with being less "educated".

We should value those qualities a lot more. Having gone to university does not make you smart , neither does reading books.

It is easy to learn parrot-fashion when what we should all be doing is thinking independently and originally. Our brain's capacity to absorb knowledge and retain it and our emotional intelligence in how to deal with that knowledge is what makes us smart, not how many books we have read.

Books IMO are a wonderful way into other worlds and do teach us an enormous amount, they do make us think and feel , but at the end of the day it is what we do with our learning which truly counts .

A degree is certainly no evidence or proof of being a logical , common sensical individual.

Thinking is what it's all about. Clear and simple really.

[ontheroad]

Well, you can always buy a book but I doubt anyone can buy intelligence.

Common sense is rather high on my list of "must haves" but it can be learned or acquired after the many mishaps we encounter in life.

Now book smarts, and intelligence are also rather separate for me. While a book can teach you a subject, it rarely informs you how to integrate or incorporate the information into a conceptual base and apply it.

So, I think I'd like everyone to be common-sensical and have inborn intelligence.

I have neither.

[cleatis]

Originally Posted by kawgpz550

Ok, so this thread was inspired by another thread currently running. Since this is now "Religion and Philosophy", I think this question/poll is quite suitable.

I would just like to know what everyone's feelings are about this...Religion aside!

Which would you say is more important to get by in the world?

Book Smarts: Highly intelligent, very articulate, full of wisdom and knowledge of mathematical equations and scientific data and so on

Common Sense (This is a bit more complex to define): Understanding the difference between right or wrong, hot and cold, safe and dangerous and so on


Which would you rather have and/or would rather the majority of your peers have? Of course, we all know that we would all like to be blessed with a good balance of both. We also know that a lot of people possess both characteristics. BUT....we also know that there are MANY people that completely lack one or the other. However, just for fun, you can ONLY CHOOSE ONE!

Would you prefer someone that is a complete genius, but utterly lacks common sense?

OR

Would you prefer someone grounded in common sense despite their lack of book smarts?

I picked book smarts. I figured that if everyone was book-smart, common sense would follow and lead to even better common sense... if that makes any sense

[stycotl]

i generally accept the idea that common sense is the standard of applicable intelligence. i have known people with common sense who were not society's idea of intelligent. that was generally, as i have come to believe, solely because they lacked an education (in the loosest sense of the word; read moose's post above), not because they were somehow smart, but stupid at the same time. however, many 'smart' people that i know are actually pretty brain-dead. there really is a world of difference between being able to parrot information (think about it, a parrot can parrot info, but still can't use the info to figure out the secrets of dark matter for example), and being able to actually think independently, logically, and critically.

i, unfortunately, am one of the adle-brained idiots that is only semi-book-smart, and still has only the common sense of a tree stump. so i would like a larger helping of both please.

[GCSTroop]

Not to get too analytical but are we talking about infinite book smarts OR infinite common sense? Or are we just talking about being rather book smart as opposed to non-sensical, OR sensical as opposed to book smart?

I think if we're talking about inifinite 'smarts' I'd choose the common sense as that means I'd be able to interpret the data from books in order to make educated decisions.

This is interesting as I kind of see where this thread is headed. I'm currently reading a book about why people believe weird things (alien abductions, ESP, etc..) It's funny because I got to a chapter this morning that was entitled "Why Smart People Believe Weird Things".

Really, they are what we might call "orthogonal" to one another. Or, in geometric terms "They are at right angles to one another." The best answer the author could provide was this:

Smart people believe in weird things because they are skilled at defending things they believe in for non-smart reasons.- Michael Shermer, Why People Belive Weird Things, 1996

Now, when I, and the author, refer to 'smart' people we're talking about people we would consider extremely intelligent.... Astrophysicists, multiple PhD holders, etc... What's typically found though, is that once you bring these people outside their realm of specialty (let's say astrophysics), they are still intelligent, but they have no independent, critial thinking skills in other fields. What I think dictates overall intelligence is the ability to balance the common sense and "book smarts" to a point where decisions and thought processes are made based on an overall best effort given the most obtainable knowledge possible.

Therefore, I think there's actually a lot more to common sense than is alluded to. I don't think you can have utter common sense without book smarts. However, I think you can definitely be extremely book smart with very little common sense. It makes utter common sense right?

[virgo]

Well, I guess I'll have to go with the common sense folks with the hope that they'll "sleep at a Holiday Inn Express" before they work on nuclear power plants, perform corneal operations, or construct bridges.

Could I vote for artificial intelligence in androids programmed to the nth degree AND people with common sense? Androids aren't human!

[Blueberry]

Education without a balance of common sense AND humility is worthless.
Common sense without a decent, basic education will severely limit a person's potential.

I'm not at all a fan of today's educational establishment. In most cases, it seeks to educate with book knowledge without teaching the individual to think. With that education comes an ego that leads a person to believe he's smarter than he actually is. I'd like to see critical thinking and/or logic as mandatory classes in high school. Instead, young people grow into adults who think they are truly knowledgeable when, in actuality, they are being led like sheep by the mainstream media and/or educational institutions because they've never learned how to critically evaluate information presented to them. We also need to teach children good memory techniques so they can more effectively evaluate any information presented instead of focusing on what is placed in front of them (the here and now) because they have forgotten what they heard a day, a week, a month, or a year ago. There's a reason media "spin" is so effective!

In context of faith issues, it's disheartening to see people of faith who cannot represent their faith in a rational, intellectual manner. Blind faith is only good to a certain extent. For example, the Bible tells Christians to study so they can adequately answer those who ask a reason for the hope that is within them (Christians). Other faith groups should be the same. I don't think this study should take the form of indoctrination. Only people on shaky ground rely on indoctrination. Rather, an educated person of faith should exhibit balance and have a good awareness of worldly issues/knowledge, including history and science. (That doesn't mean a person of faith has to believe like the world. Many can study the issues and still reach a conclusion different from the masses.)

People of faith aren't the only ones who have been indoctrinated, however. In today's society, most people are easily led like sheep. That's why critical thinking needs to be taught.