I was erm, undergoing egestion, and reading The Straits Times report on Singaporean parents spending a collective sum of $860 million (if i am not wrong) on Private Tuition in a year, when this thought suddenly hit me.
Calling someone intelligent is not a compliment. It is nothing more than stating a fact just like, 'my hair is brown' or 'i have 10 fingers'. Because whoever said that intelligence was good? Or worthy of praise? Who decided that the speed and depth in which we process things can be deemed as good or bad? Somewhere along the lines of humanity, we just decided that it was good to be smart, or intelligent. (Probably because of capitalism but anyways..)
This has got to be one of the most, common misconception of all time, that smart=good, slow/not smart=bad.
Know why? Because Sometimes Slow people are the ones with the biggest hearts around, and smart people, the jerks of society (not all of course... note the word: sometimes).
So.... Bottom line?
It isn't praise when someone calls you smart/intelligent/bright/clever, it is just a fact.
Conversely, neither is it an insult when someone deems you as slow, dim-witted, or stupid.
Whoever said *stupid was bad?
*note: stupid in the context of the degradation term of being intellectually slower. Not stupid in the context of making unwise, senseless, reckless decisions. That kind of stupid, is really well deserving to condemn poor decision-making or character or attitude.
No comments:
Post a Comment