>the "smart" character is an apathetic cynic while the dummy is a happy-go-lucky optimist
This is the opposite in real life. Those Valedictorians are almost always cheery, affable & look forward to the future. While the whinging "nothing really matters/I see through politics/religion/society" types are dropouts with a bad weed habit they can't kick.
No it's just that the dummies try to make themselves and others thing that being cynic gives them smart points... Also Valedictorians tend to be smart and the kind of people that have their life "organized" and almost everything is in place. That's why they are Valedictorians and that's why they are cheery. There are also smart people who don't have this "skill/ability" and end up less cheerful etc...
Adrian Nelson
I think you have a point. But they also say this: >nothing really matters/I see through politics/religion/society It's just that they don't really care, because they're smart people who have it very good. There are smart, depressed, lonely people as well, I think. But you don't see them because they, you know, give up.
Luke Miller
November.
David King
You just wanted to make a thread that bashes Atheists, didn't you?
Tyler Sanders
Its almost like there is actual fullfillment to be found in working hard and succeeding at life.
Bentley Lee
>While the whinging "nothing really matters/I see through politics/religion/society" types are dropouts with a bad weed habit they can't kick.
Describes a lot of guys, perhaps myself included. The smartest generation yet, but living in a society so comfortable we don't have to really try at anything.
Isaiah Hall
>Valedictorians
Excelling at school/academics does not make one smart, just like playing sheet music someone else wrote doesn't make one a good musician. You'd know that if you weren't a dumb pleb.
Brayden James
It's an indication of success at applied mental ability. Dumb kids don't become valedictorian.
Easton Thomas
It's a combination of smarts and self discipline. I know you wanna devalue what they do, but let's not pretend like you just fall into being top of your class or valedictorian.
Isaac Ramirez
>Dumb kids don't become valedictorian.
Yet it doesn't indicate particular intelligence as well. Also, "success at applied mental ability" is such a broad spectrum, you might as well put in Kurt Cobain as well.
Robert Barnes
"Smart" is a pretty loose definition, however personally I don't count people who just repeat information as smart. The real test for smarts is innovation and creation, not something those valedictorians usually do, too busy memorizing textbooks.
Mason Ward
The abillity to process information is a very big part of "being smart".
Carter Sanchez
Yes, yes, I didn't say that it doesn't, however it's not enough. Without doing anything with this information, you're essentially a monkey. The problem with valedictorians is that they are so focused on getting good grades in all subjects and getting "bonus points" for community projects etc. that they forsake actually delving deeper into one subject and actually mastering it, not to mention seek alternative knowledge that might be much more important that whatever they are taught in high-school/college. I hang out with the valedictorian crowd when I was in school and can attest that most of them are narrow-minded, socially retarded, lack the ability to form independent opinions or thoughts, and commonly belong on the autistic spectrum. Not the bunch I think of when you say "smart".
Daniel Gray
Sounds like you're just projecting your anecdotal experience.
William Sullivan
The correlation between doing well in school and being financially successful in life is incredibly high
Jaxson Gray
Kind of like OP did?
Dominic Russell
Except OP has a leg to stand on. See
Michael Anderson
Nope. He said "Those Valedictorians are almost always cheery, affable & look forward to the future." a statement based on no research.
Jose Hall
It's true, only Christians are smart, everyone else is le fedora guy, just like the meme I saw on those jpegs.
Ethan Ortiz
Oh please, are you going to pretend like successful individuals with their shit together AREN'T generally sociable & happy people? They certainly don't tend to be crying shut-ins.
Juan White
>are you going to pretend like successful individuals with their shit together AREN'T generally sociable & happy people?
No, they aren't. Go on, give me proof that they are.
Youre right. I have a few masters professors thst are plain dumb fucks. One of them literally repeats the same shit every single class. Always saying what so e other guy said like he's a shepard enlightening the students. Such arrogance you can clearly see he never had a original thought in his life and gets off to "breaking" the views and belives of us poor common people
Xavier Wright
Well, it should be mentioned, I don't really know what a valedictorian really is, seeing as I'm not american, but I think it means (and correct me if I'm wrong here) the student who finished with the highest grades? And in my experience, these people, who have been my friends since "high-school", are usually very smart, and are the best at actually using what they learn, forming their own oppinions based on said knowledge and debating the meaning behind the facts, and accurately express their oppinions. They also (usually) finish their higher education first, study the most difficult subjects and get the best jobs. And as I said before, they all seem very happy and socially apt, even if they say stuff like life is meaningless, I see through religion/politics and so on and so on. But that's pretty normal here, no matter how smart you are, what social class you belong to etc...
Xavier Reed
Confirmed for not being able to tell the difference between causation and correlation.
This research shows the opposite - it shows that people who are happy do better in school, not that people who do better in school are happy. That's not surprising, because depression can certainly make one lose passion for studying or even attending school.
If you'd bothered to read it, it also says that "grit" is more important than IQ (raw intelligence) to do well and be happy - that is, the factor that makes these people successful isn't that they are smart, but that they have character skills that help them succeed, which really doesn't fit OP's claim - and yours.
I generally don't believe that smart people are either happier or more cynical, it's much more complicated than that. However, if you'd get out of your bedroom, you'd certainly see dumb, even literally retarded people who are extremely happy, and smart, intelligent people who are depressed. I'm sure you can find a research that shows that too, if you google it.
>And in my experience, these people, who have been my friends since "high-school", are usually very smart
Well, as I said, I have the opposite experience.
Ian Fisher
You're quibbling with semantics. Happiness is linked with success.
Nolan Peterson
>You're quibbling with semantics.
No I'm not. I'm quibbling with the little details that you conveniently skip.
Your simplistic assertion that "Happiness is linked with success" and that "smart people are successful" is the biggest indication of just how small minded you are.
If you want to know why in movies people who are smart are portrayed as cynical, it's because cynicism is a view of life that constantly challenges and questions the world, which is generally viewed as a smart thing to do. You get this notion all the way back in the Bible and King Solomon, the "Wisest of all men", who had a big nihilistic episode (the book of Ecclesiastes). Media simply reflects reality, and the experience or believes of those who create it.
Nathan Russell
>working hard >reading that's what the system wants you to think memerinio
Aaron Stewart
You would be dismayed at the percentage of morons, lunatics and general scum in academia.
Jackson Anderson
I was always top of my class without trying at all just because I was an Aspie. Then I never did shit since because school doesn't mean a thing.