The value of intelligence?

So about 10 seconds ago I said I wasn't going to post anything thoughtful, but it turns out I forgot all about the bread I was making (was I always this way or did giving birth make me more forgetful?) so now I have to stay up another 20 minutes until it's done baking. I'd rather go to bed, but you can't just save bread until the next day. Not when it's already shaped into its attractive baguette-shape with cunning slashes on the top, begging to be put in the oven.

Anyway, Ann Aluru got me thinking about the way we value intelligence in this society. (To see her post about it, click here.) She points out that parents are quick to brag that their kids are smart, but not mention other qualities that might be more important, like generosity, kindness and wisdom. After all, you're stuck with whatever IQ you were born with, so intelligence is more of a gift than a virtue. I've been a graduate student for a long time (please, please don't ask how long), so I am immersed in a culture obsessed with academic achievements. At school, I'm surrounded by people who measure their success with how many conferences they've made presentations at and how many articles they've had published. Performance majors actually have a reputation for not being able to cut it academically like the "real" scholars (musicologists and theorists), so I've worked extra hard to prove myself in that respect. (Not that I've ever been published, but I've turned out some damn good seminar papers.)

Our culture values intelligence in an abstract way, possibly at the expense of other equally important qualities. It's getting harder to get into college, for example. (Hell, pre-school admissions are downright cut-throat these days.) The public school system isn't set up to deal very well with kids who aren't college-bound. It's also a system in which kids who aren't good test-takers are at a huge disadvantage, no matter how smart they actually are. (For more on this, see Jenn's post.) And every time the federal government feels the pressure to stay ahead of China or Russia in the technology industry, they make noise about improving math and science education for young people. (As if those were the only subjects that matter, as if smart people only choose those fields...but I digress.)

And yet, at the same time, our culture celebrates mediocrity. Look at our so-called president. He routinely uses poor grammer ("Is our children learning?"), mispronounces words ("nucular"), explains statements that don't need explaining ("We solve problems-because we're problem-solvers!"), and states the painfully obvious ("The United States and China are separated by a vast ocean.") I believe much of this, at least the "nucular" thing, is intentional. It is done in order to appeal to "regular" people, to make his personality more like the unthreatening good old boy, less like a stodgy, intellectual elitist (you know, like Al Gore or John Kerry).

It's not just the president. Mainstream entertainment is careful not to venerate the overly-educated. Have you seen Mean Girls? The main character in that one sabotages her own math grades to look more attractive to a guy she has a crush on. My only beef with Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I'm a big fan otherwise) is how Joss Whedon insisted upon portraying all college professors as stuffy, condescending and out of touch. (But then, he's a college dropout himself, so maybe he's a little bitter...)

How many of us were labelled as nerds? I skipped a grade, still made straight A's AND had a bad perm, so you can guess that my social life was, well, limited. Most smart girls I knew acted dumb to make friends. I didn't act dumb, so I stuck out a little. (I really do think it's harder for girls to be smart. At least, it was in my town in the early 1990s. Maybe things have improved. Maybe that's being way too optimistic.) Did I act like a know-it-all sometimes? Probably. Did I feel like my intelligence was valued? I remember being in 6th or 7th grade and feeling like no one liked me because I was so shy and introverted and didn't wear expensive clothes and my mom tried reassuring me that people appreciated intelligence and that they would come around eventually. I remember wondering how long that would take. I think things eased up in high school somewhat.

You know what, though? Tough cookies. I got picked on for being smart, and it sucked, but it's not like I was the only one who got teased for something. Most kids get picked on for something: smart kids, dumb kids, poor kids, fat kids, short kids, smelly kids, kids who spend all their time playing D&D and watching Star Trek...

I really need to wrap this up. I was hoping this would be a brilliant essay, but it's just turning into me rambling and I've spent too much time on it already. My bread has long since finished baking; actually, it's the next morning and I'm spending valuable baby nap time blogging instead of baking those scones for my friend.

One final comment, though. For all this talk about the value (??) of intelligence and how intelligence is unfairly measured, it's not always the most important thing on a personal level. Think of what we appreciate about our friends. Sure, they might be smart; I certainly consider my friends to be quite intelligent. But that's not what I appreciate most about them. What I value in my friends are the same qualities I want to raise my children to have: generosity, kindness, thoughtfulness, resourcefulness, a sense of humour, and passion for life.