Intellectual Presence in Boise

[VandalsLOL]

Obviously there is a tenuous relationship between the two, nor are the mutually inclusive of each other.

However, it's fairly safe to say that an intelligent society or culture values education (and is also an educated one). I would also suggest that a formal education is a significant component in the intelligence of any person (or group).

Look, the concept of "intelligence" is a problematic one. How do you define or measure intelligence? You'll get a thousand conflicting answers to that. And surely there are exceptions when we talk about the whether "intelligent" people are educated, and whether educated people are "intelligent," and all that. But there's a great deal of hard work, dedication, tenacity, and demonstration of ability that goes into getting a college education, and that exposure tends to convey certain skills and specializations, all of which might help define intelligence overall.

[NC_Paddler]

However, it's fairly safe to say that an intelligent society or culture values education (and is also an educated one). I would also suggest that a formal education is a significant component in the intelligence of any person (or group).

Absolutely. And the worst reactionaries -- the religious fundamentalists and the backwards-thinking conservative politicians -- are almost always anti-education, because education is a threat to their irrational, fear-based, superstitious belief systems that they cling to in a desperate attempt to shield themselves from reality -- a reality that is leaving them and their primitive beliefs behind to die like the dinosaurs whose existence they don't acknowledge. Money spent on public education is a waste to those who would rather "teach" their kids at home about talking snakes, virgin births, and angry, bearded father figures living in the sky, not to mention "history" that significantly alters our completely leaves out critical events like, say . . . slavery . . . like those geniuses in Texas.

Look, the concept of "intelligence" is a problematic one. How do you define or measure intelligence? You'll get a thousand conflicting answers to that. And surely there are exceptions when we talk about the whether "intelligent" people are educated, and whether educated people are "intelligent," and all that. But there's a great deal of hard work, dedication, tenacity, and demonstration of ability that goes into getting a college education, and that exposure tends to convey certain skills and specializations, all of which might help define intelligence overall.

I was pretty darn specific in my original post about what I meant by "intellectual", knowing full-well there are different ways to look at it, and I even specifically mentioned that formal education was only part of that definition. But anyone who doesn't believe that formal education is at least part of that equation may be reacting to their own feelings of inferiority, regardless of anything I said or meant. Nevertheless, those reactions are answers in themselves.

[Sage of Sagle]

This thread has devolved into an argument having nothing to do with Boise at this point beyond slinging insults at the majority of Idahoans. It's done.