Book Smart or Common Sense...You choose

i think you need both :D if you are a book smart then you have knowledge, but if you cant have a sense to socialize, then it your knowledge will be a waste

My vote is firmly in your corner lanlan. Book smarts won't do you any good unless you have the common sense to know when to use it! If I had to be short on one (if I had a choice), it would be the book smarts.

I think it shoud be a balanced combination of both.One should be knowledgeable as well as good in common sense too.

This is a very good question. I would say that alot of people who are book smart also have common sense, but they aren't street smart. I have one son who is book smart and another who we consider to be street smart. There are times that neither of them have common sense. The one who is book smart is going to go far in his life. He is in high school and already is taking college courses. My street smart son graduated from high school and went out and got himself a great job. I dont' think that the book smart son would have even thought about searching for a job without the education. I guess that common sense is going to win over any kind of smarts in the long run.

This is a good discussion, lanlan011. As someone has already mentioned, I think there is book smarts, common sense and streetwise. I believe it is best to cultivate a little of each in our lives in order to live a healthy, balanced life.

Years ago in my old neighborhood, it was good to have street smarts as oppse to books smarts, because people thought you were above them and didn't want to talk to them. I think common sense is something that everybody has, if you know it or not. For example: You wouldn't put your hand in boiling hot water, obviously because it's hot.

There is another category of people who start out with common sense got book smart by studying privately, having both experiences. These people are a cut above the book smarts but suffers without a certificate. Without certification the book smarts have the edge in earning power and also demonstrate the ability to make their way through society without really know what they are doing. Their training makes it difficult to pin any failure on them.

My husband is a Mensa-level genius. He knows a lot about a lot and he can answer probably any question you give him about history, physics, literature, language, Chinese history, Japanese history, and god knows what else. But the man cannot walk in a straight line to save his life. He has absolutely no common sense whatsoever, no sense of social skills or spacial awareness. Yes, it's great to have book smarts, but without common sense, you're liable to get hit by a bus and never even know it.

The thing about common sense is that it is an uncommon virtue, how many people that think of themselves as having common sense, really mean that they have a bunch of unexamined prejudices. Yes, there are those that are intelligent and yet seem to lack what might be called common sense but such people are also found in the intellectually challenged. Similarly, there are many intelligent people that also have their feet well and truly on the floor. all the best urban

Both are necessary. Book smart is about knowledge and knowledge is very useful, knowledge informed by common sense is extremely useful. Having common sense or being street smart will help you in a world where they are relevant. But if you entered a world where your street sense and common sense are out of their depth then knowledge will show you the path and your common sense will guide you along that path. Together they made a whole.

Well common sense will definitely help you survive in the real world. Even in the corporate world. everyone needs some common sense. Book smarts are easier to learn because you just memorize concepts and diagrams. SO I'd really rather have more common sense or street smarts. I think I'm more of a book smart though but I'm not without common sense either.

Hi, there. I think both are important but if I had to choose I'd choose common sense for sure, because Iv known people who are really book smart they can solve any math problem and they know many historical facts but when it comes to dealing with some of the basics of life and making good life choices some of them cant grasp that concept, so for me I will definitely pick common sense.

I think you need them both. I have a friend who is a genuis. He graduated with a double course in Physics and Computer engineering but really lacks common sense. I think instead of using common sense it's better to use the term street smart.

i will go with common sense as having common sense is applicable in all situtation but bok smart is only applicable in the field u are good at. there are many instants where academically smart people failed to do right or even average in daily matters. they could not think right or make simple decision. the problem with these people may be their high ego and they tend to think they are smart and above the rest of us. no one can claim to know everything in the world. there are just so many things that are new and happening each day. they can only claim to be good at the field which they specialised at, that all. having common sense is impt as it is common sense that get you going in your daily life and u need it to make decisions daily. to solve problems that suddenly appear in front of you. without common sense, u can make a lot of wrong decision in life and not able to survive in the society. common sense is just simple, logical and rationale thinking but sometimes people just tried to be smart and make easy things look difficult and use complicated and sophisicated methods to solve easy problems that u and me would resolve it easily.

I beleive ya need both.Book smarts you can excell in class rooms adn other places but with common sence you get along with the world better and using it helps you in or out of a lot of things!

Both... Book smarts may help get you to the top but without common sense you won't stay there.

Well I chose to have a lot of common sense than be a book smart. well you can be saved from a lot of horrible things when you have common sense.

I have book smarts. And, it only does me good in the classroom. It doesn't help me so much out in the real world. I need some more common sense. :)

Most defnetly common sence dude cause all the crap u study in the books will never help u in life they just say some crap thats outdated its like newspapers todays news is tommorows trash so whats the point in reading them however its good to keep urself updated with books and news all sorts of stuff but just because a guy or a gurl is really smart in class dont mean that she will become rich or outsmart the one who isent smart il give you a very good example " Bill Gates " he was a school dropout and look at him now . Being smart is nothing but prooving urself to the class and underline that word to the class and only the classroom and to the teach and to your dumb friends that u are smart but having common sence is to proove to the world that u are smart now u choose, do u want to proove to a calass room and to the school that u are smart by getting good grades that is worth toiletpaper once u start working or do u want to proove to the world that u are really smart and capable . Finally i would like to say that a wise man who knows everything never gives away his mind to anyone where as a dumb man tells and talks about everything he knows and what all he dosent know. A person who talks a lot dosent think a lot but a person who thinks a lot dosent talk at all keep that in mind and u will know who is really wise and who is faking to be wise. Cheers !

I think it is best to have an equal balance of the two. That way you can acheive got academic grades, but also have good social skills, and then you would do well at both written interviews and person to person interviews. :)