The problem is that our society has come to place too high a value on intellectual acumen while ignoring the value of other character traits and other gifts and abilities that do not translate directly into intellectual prowess.
We’ve devalued much of what makes a person and exalted only one aspect of what makes a human being a human being.
It’s wreaked havoc on our society and people’s lives.
Not only does character count, we have confused credentials with intellectual acumen. Having a PhD is as much a question of having the time, inclination, and money to devote to pursuing grad school as having true genius.
Considering Obama was awarded a Nobel even before he did anything (probably when his record was best), I even question that award.
In the meantime I have met a wide variety of people who demonstrate that even without extensive formal education they remain more intelligent than those they deal with who are more credentialed.
“society has come to place too high a value on intellectual acumen”
Uhh, WHERE?! All I see is the fawning over HWood, athletes and the boobs on the boob tube.
Please direct me where you see great time, $$$ and mentality is given to a teacher, scientist, etc. instead of knowing, on a dime, every stat for the XYZ team.
Sorry, but last I’ve seen Michael Vick was given a standing O when returning to the field.
That is true. Among my secular family and friends, academic credentials are their equivalent of salvation. I am not joking.
I have a relative who is near the end of his very high powered career. He has an ivy league MBA, has been very financially successful, and has owned several businesses.
His children all have ivy league masters degrees, and now all have their own high powered careers.
Our children were all together for a family gathering, and he noticed that my children demonstrated a profound Christian faith.
Privately, he took me aside and told me how much he admired my wife and I for raising them in a Christian home. He is not a man of deep faith, and he he said his one regret (now that his children are grown adults) is that he did not raise them with a love for God.
My younger son was severely dyslexic, but had a really fine people sense. Although he ended up being a high school dropout, he married a college graduate, has two fine children and manages his own business. I always told him not to worry about the reading and writing because he could always hire a secretary. He knew how to charm people and engender cooperation. He tells me his 8 year old has twice his social intelligence, gets very high grades and has no dyslexia, and is very cute. I look forward to seeing how he turns out.
I also think our education system does dyslexics a severe disservice. My brother was also severely dyslexic. Both did not begin to be able to read until the 5th grade. Perhaps it would make more sense to have such children learn more from dealing with other subjects than reading and writing (except in small doses), until they showed the readiness to learn reading and writing. They enjoyed making things and drawing among other activities.