You Are Not Stupid but your Teacher is ǀ On school

Knowledge and Intelligence. I hear a lot of people nowadays getting the two mixed up. I think there is a very real difference. We've all been there, in school or at work, when someone names somebody as stupid for not having a specific aspect of knowledge.

Knowledge can be earnt, it is something that has to be worked for to be gained. However, not having knowledge does not make you stupid. 

In my opinion being stupid is the opposite of being clever, not the opposite of having lots of knowledge. Therefore calling someone stupid for not having knowledge is pointless.

Intelligence is not something that can be gained or altered too substantially over a short period of time, it is inherent to you, it is part of your genetics. Not having this does not substantially inhibit most people from gaining knowledge. Therefore the less "intelligent" person can still have more knowledge - and inevitably will do in some areas.

Both of these traits are overvalued. People who make fun of others for not having knowledge that seems obvious to them are naïve. Clearly, if that individual needed the knowledge, they would have it, making fun of them for not, is just pointing out you are more educated in one, specific, area and certainly has no indication of your intelligence. 

But being knowledgeable is something to be respected. It is a more fair measure. Because it is something that can be increased by work demonstrating that people who have it have put there time in. But no man can be completely knowledgeable in all areas and berating them for it is pointless.

In conclusion being stupid is not a problem, as even if you are you can work to increase your knowledge. Having a lack of knowledge in some areas is not a problem - you are probably still just as intelligent and could probably pull the same "do you know" trick on someone else in an area you are knowledgeable in.

Therefore as both traits, intelligence and knowledge, can be equally useful, and useless, it is pointless for us to value them highly- at least in day to day life.

I see a lot of people in school calling themselves stupid or dumb. Many people even fall into their own trap of believing it. Yet I have sat with these students and commonly they turn out to be extremely astute, yet so many of the "smart" kids and teachers underestimate them. Writing them off when if the subjects were switched the student may quickly have to teach the teacher.

Another aspect of this is berating the "less intelligent" kids lack of focus. This has nothing to do with there intelligence - commonly this is due to upbringing. They have not been fed the same tasks that train them to sit in a classroom for a hour listening to a person speak, making notes and answering questions. The problem is becoming more and more common and it is not something you can blame the kids for. They are the ones who have been allowed to play video game, eat sweets - basically few on dopamine throughout their life to give there parents some peace and quiet. Surly, by depriving them of a dopamine hit for six hours we can only expect them to go into withdrawal, and hungrily desire it.

Alternately, they are actually more intelligent than the smart kids, this work is actually so unstimulating for there brain, they view it as so unworthy there time that they do not bother to attempt to work.

Sure they should be able to focus, but then their parents should not have let them become addicted to dopamine. 

The rigid structure of the stupid and the clever is an unhelpful line that is heavily ingrained with much of society. After spending time with people from both groups I can say they are both subjective and unhelpful. After all one of the most true proverbs is that: people will live up to the expectations you give them. Labelling as the "dumb" group, by separation - as so many teachers do is not helpful.

In my view teachers should view every student as smart. Give them expectations they desire to live up to; gradually help them spend more and more time away from hits of dopamine and make your lessons interesting so that all students, not just the robots to stupid to realise the lesson is boring, have a chance to observe, learn and be educated. Make your lesson as close to the flow state as possible and treat an addiction, like dopamine, like it should be treated - with patience not insults and jokes.

On Dopamine and instant gratification: here

On the flow state: here