Book-smart or street-smart??
By yona06
@yona06 (585)
Indonesia
February 27, 2008 2:57am CST
I am a law graduate from a respective university in my country. During my schooling and college years i've always felt that i couldn't keep up (although I'm not actually too behind) with all the text book reading and memorizing and stuff. I felt like wasting my time but my parents always said that education is important. After me and my friends started working, I'm thinking more and more that I learn more easily from day to day practice and experience rather than from all the text books I've read in school. First day at work I was totally clueless despite all the knowledge I got from years and years of reading. It seems easier for me to grasp the idea of something by direct experience and each day I realize that there is so much more to life than what I learn at school. My friends also feel the same, especially those who work in fields that have nothing to do at all with their college major.
I'm not saying that going to school is pointless, it is important to have proper education and the things you learn at school is the basis of everything I do. But it seems to me that there are plenty of important things that I can only learn from experience and by experience I'm learning it better.
I've seen one of the episodes of the apprentice and I remembered something about someone being street-smart and book-smart. And it happened to be that the street-smart person won :) I think I am more of street-smart person. what about you?
1 person likes this
1 response
@klaudyou (501)
•
27 Feb 08
When you read something from a book you get an instant increase in knowledge, that is one thing we can't deny. How many things we experience makes us better? Well, several, most of them perhaps, but certainly not all.
I wouldn't call it street-smart, but just smart, and when you read something to gain knowledge, i would call you wise, or clever. Now, of course, we live a social life, and we better do it well, because else we are alienated (going to extreme)...because that's what I think it happens when the balance is not met: you read more so you keep off from social activities like getting out, playing, having fun....and so on.
So, my solution, which i like to think i applied so far with myself is to READ SMART, and viceversa, to be SOCIALLY WISE. And I succeeded so far both in school and with my friends.
It's hard to not fall on extremes, but it's profitable to keep a balance.
