When Smart People Act Ignorant

This blog entry at AfterEllen.com is about celebrity high school dropouts.

One of them was Whoopi Goldberg, and this is what was written:

I was surprised by this because some of Whoopi's stand-up — which I've always assumed she wrote herself — is just so smart. Of course, I know that plenty of well-educated folks cannot write, so I shouldn't be surprised that some less-educated folks can.

So apparently because Whoopi never graduated high school, she couldn't possibly have written all of her "just so smart" stand up by herself...or it's a fluke in the way that "plenty of well-educated folks cannot write".

I graduated from high school. I went to college. I went to a really good college. I don't see how my simply going to college makes me smarter than someone who hasn't. I don't see how graduating from high school proves anything except that I had enough patience and tenacity to put up with public school bullshit.

A commenter wrote:

The biggest surprise on that list to me is Kate Winslet! She always comes across as so eloquent and informed. Browsing through the list made me wonder what exactly does it mean to graduate from our lackluster education system (although some, like Kate, failed to graduate from foreign systems). It's clear that many of them find their education and development elsewhere.

Yes, what does it mean? So Kate "comes across as so eloquent and informed", but since she didn't finish school it's all a show?

Readers, how much do you remember from high school? I bet the majority of it was social and not academic. I remember a lot from extracurriculars. I remember school dances. I remember the guy who wore way too much Polo Sport and had a locker right next to me (how do you NOT smell yourself, dude?!). Um...I think I wrote some essays. I remember feeling like my brain was liquidating from the boringness that was trig...do I use what I learned now? No. Most of what I use now I learned in eighth grade English class. Ok, total exageration, but you get my point.

We learn from life experiences. We learn lessons just from doing. A lot of celebrities who didn't graduate were already working. When you're young and constantly working around adults, you grow up fast (which is why so many of them turn into trainwrecks). Do you remember being in elementary school and laughing at the silly adults who didn't know the capitals of all the states? Silly adults! Tricks are for kids! You wanna know the real reason for school? To learn how to learn. You learn to learn by practicing learning. That's why tests are ineffective. You don't learn by testing. People often wonder what is the point of learning math beyond the basics. The more complex math you learn, the better you are at solving complex problems in general because it exercises that part of your brain, the problem-solving part. You learn to put two-and-two together. We somehow call it common sense.

These days a lot of us know that experience can matter more than education. Have a degree but never had a job? Yeah, good luck getting one over the person who has five years of experience under their belt. Actors, musicians, comedians, they get experience doing something. Being in a cutthroat business means you have to learn. You have to be smarter than the next guy. Yeah, a lot of them get to where they are for other reasons, but I'm saying just because someone didn't graduate high school, it doesn't mean they aren't intelligent.

I'm learning a lot more at community college now than I did at that good college I mentioned. I learn a lot more on my own as well. High school was a fucking waste of time. That's what I learned.