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Comment by waratuman | Hacker News Reader

This is using a predefined standard for being "smart," higher reading and writing skills. First the basis should be established that proves that being smarter, based on this metric, is actually better for every person. I find value in being smarter, but this does not mean that others will.

A better metric would be the amount of value the person derives from what he or she is doing. But this is an impossible metric to gather and even if it were it can't be used to compare individuals.

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You make a fantastic observation here. If I am to believe historic pop culture, athleticism was once the holy grail for child achievement. Every parent wanted a child that was the quarterback. We have now shifted to every parent wanting the smartest kid, but both are rooted in the desire to appear better than your peers, not because it is actually important to be good at either.

I'm a nerd. As such, I appreciate that intellectual pursuits come fairly naturally to me, because it enables me to be a nerd. However, I am starting to grow tired of people claiming it is important for everyone to be that way. It is not. Everyone has different objectives for their life, and being a nerd is often not one of them.

Motivation to create something of value is the only attribute of importance. If you are a motivated athlete, you will do something great. If you are a motivated intellectual, you will do something great. If you are a motivated person without anything else going for you, you will still do something great!

I wonder why you got downvoteed? That makes sense, actually. The predefined metric is pretty standard but maybe it is flawed. Then again, everything is relative so we have to have some standard metric and can't be changing it to suit every individual either.

Perhaps there is no need for a standard for everyone. Take any student who wishes to enter into an industry, whether it is engineering, philosophy, aviation, or sports. Is there any value for him or her being rated by a standard that does not apply? Instead the student will try to achieve the accepted standard for the industry they enter.

How many years after high school will you or any employer care about your transcript? How about college? The experience you have in an industry quickly outweighs the number of years in college, at least in my industry (this may not be true when you need to go to specialized schooling, such as when you enter a medical profession, but I speak of general schooling).

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