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By adult life, I mean, having graduated from school and working in the real world and experiencing adult social, extracurricular and leisure activities.
By smarter, I mean in more of an academic sense. Not the "you know not to drive drunk or date certain women because you made those mistakes" kind of smart.
For instance, let's say you majored in Statistics the first time around, have worked for 12 years and are now 35. How would you do if you went back to school and majored in Electrical Engineering or Biochemistry? Worse, better, or the same?
And I don't mean because you are more mature and responsible. How would you fare competing against the 20 year old version of yourself scholastically, the one who has had 14 years of continuing full time academic education up to that point?
SMARTER????? Not really...wiser...you bet your boots I am
Smarter could be an excuse from returning to Grad school for another degree of sorts. Those letters after a persons name are more of a ego trip (to the person earning them).
As for me...got my degree some 50 plus yrs ago that has not made me any smarter but during the past decades have become wiser learning from other peoples mistakes.
NO Drugs, Alcohol or tobacco has alowed me to live longer.....twice as long as some that have used the three items I mentioned. Have seen the results in relatives and the consequences and I'm still here so must be doing something right.
Never used my degree in it's field but still was a business owner for 36 yrs so guess that makes me SMART...never worked for a pay check per se but just issued them every week.
Eh. Most of what's gotten more pronounced and sharply honed in my life are things like ability to prioritize, manage time, assess situations and respond effectively, etc. Analytical skills, essentially. Base intelligence doesn't really change much. You don't so much "get smarter," it's more a matter of learning how to do things more effectively.
I worked as a writer for a newspaper for half a dozen years. I now have certain writing skills that are stronger than they were when I was an undergraduate English major. Did I "get smarter?" Not really. I did get more practice.
I would crush the former me academically, at least in my undergraduate years. I'm not any smarter, though, and definitely don't have the stamina I used to have, but I'm responsible enough not to wait until the last minute to do stuff. I also have much better reading skills - it used to take me a long time to do all that required reading, but I'm much faster and more efficient now. Plus, I'm more confident and not horribly shy like I used to be, so participating in class and talking to teachers would actually be possible.
I'm not sure about the grad school me, though. I'd do better than the MA me, because the MA where I went to school wasn't about quality of work or smartness anyway - it was about sucking up and not making trouble. I've definitely learned how to do that! I could totally take advantage of all the opportunities I missed at the time because I didn't want to kiss *ss.
Beyond that, PhD me would probably be the same. That was just so darn hard I don't know if I could have done any better. Actually, I'd be smart enough now not to do it at all, I think.
Well, I was taught this when I was a new grad (a long time ago), from the PhD's that ended up working for me (from universities in Palo Alto, Cambridge MA and Pasedena, and a few Ivy), told me "The first 10 years of your career are dictated by the school you attended. After that, what you did in the past 10 years is what matters". Made me ponder. So the one-word answer to the question of this thread is "yes". I wouldn't use the word 'smarter', but 'more experienced, with more wisdom'.
I think I'm dumber actually academically now. LOL.
I have more practical, and "adult" experience. I am wiser and could probably use that to my advantage. I am a clearer writer now for sure and have built up other skills, but as far as analyzing Kant or Hegel, I don't think I'd be any better at it today.
It would take about a year of studying to get to that point where I'm comfortable at holding a in depth philosophical conversation on those sorts of things...writing a paper, forgetaboutit...
There is no substitute for experience though. As much as I loved school, the 8 years out of college and all of the life experience between then really gave me perspective and provided a lot of much needed growth. I wouldn't trade the "now me" for anything.
humans are constantly learning creatures so it should go without saying, the more mature you are the smarter you become.. except for politicians.. but I jest.
I think I'm dumber actually academically now. LOL.
I have more practical, and "adult" experience. I am wiser and could probably use that to my advantage. I am a clearer writer now for sure and have built up other skills, but as far as analyzing Kant or Hegel, I don't think I'd be any better at it today.
It would take about a year of studying to get to that point where I'm comfortable at holding a in depth philosophical conversation on those sorts of things...writing a paper, forgetaboutit...
There is no substitute for experience though. As much as I loved school, the 8 years out of college and all of the life experience between then really gave me perspective and provided a lot of much needed growth. I wouldn't trade the "now me" for anything.
I have to totally agree. With a 16-year-old (virtual) daughter, I rejoice that I am not in high school with her now, as she would slaughter me. I think as we get older, wisdom and experience becomes the dominant factor. She can trump me in Latin (finally), do square-roots with 'twice the root already found', and knows 4 languages fluently. I haven't done any of that in 2 decades. She can configure a computer network in no time flat (and my forte is designing them). I almost feel obsolete.
But, for the new grads out of school, (not to generalize) they may be technically savvy, and very sharp, in the real world, in some ways they are like a deer in headlights. But nothing makes a manager more happy then growing them into top contributors.
Not to totally digress, (a little story) but I took a relatively green MIT engineer (who was really good), whom I could sense was going to go far, and placed him in charge of a a project that I put about 40 engineers on, having him as the technical lead, and have him steering its direction (of course I looked over his shoulder and gave him pointers and direction, when needed, but gave him a lot of free reign). He came to me about two or three days later, with his eyes really wide open and said "I have all these engineers, and they can do whatever they want ". That was probably one of the best days in my career. I said "Listen, they are going to follow your lead, and they will do what needs to be done. Trust me. Just give them direction, and keep an eye on the various aspects of the project." Technically, he could waste me. Obviously I was ultimately responsible for the project. He is now an executive at a rather famous start-up. So to summarize, (while still knowing all the technical aspects well), experience is more important, in my opinion.
By adult life, I mean, having graduated from school and working in the real world and experiencing adult social, extracurricular and leisure activities.
By smarter, I mean in more of an academic sense. Not the "you know not to drive drunk or date certain women because you made those mistakes" kind of smart.
For instance, let's say you majored in Statistics the first time around, have worked for 12 years and are now 35. How would you do if you went back to school and majored in Electrical Engineering or Biochemistry? Worse, better, or the same?
And I don't mean because you are more mature and responsible. How would you fare competing against the 20 year old version of yourself scholastically, the one who has had 14 years of continuing full time academic education up to that point?
Good Question - do we get smarter with more experience/age. I doubt your IQ would be any higher, you would be at the same intelligence level even with lots more reading/knowledge - perhaps more discipline, more focus, more knowledge and you might achieve a higher grades than when you were 20. Perhaps if you were undisciplined then, some people reach their potential later in life.
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SMARTER????? Not really...wiser...you bet your boots I am
With a 16-year-old (virtual) daughter, I rejoice that I am not in high school with her now, as she would slaughter me. I think as we get older, wisdom and experience becomes the dominant factor. She can trump me in Latin (finally), do square-roots with 'twice the root already found', and knows 4 languages fluently. I haven't done any of that in 2 decades. She can configure a computer network in no time flat (and my forte is designing them). I almost feel obsolete.
". That was probably one of the best days in my career. I said "Listen, they are going to follow your lead, and they will do what needs to be done. Trust me. Just give them direction, and keep an eye on the various aspects of the project." Technically, he could waste me. Obviously I was ultimately responsible for the project. He is now an executive at a rather famous start-up. So to summarize, (while still knowing all the technical aspects well), experience is more important, in my opinion.
