<p>Does anyone here feel irked when a person you barely know praises you for your academic performance? </p>
<p>For example, if a teacher tells you "you deserved it, you worked so hard", etc, do you ever feel like asking them how they know that you worked hard?</p>
<p>Is it irrational to read underlying disrespect in their praise given that it assumes that you obtained good results arguably thanks to hard work instead of talent and intelligence?</p>
<p>I think when one receives a compliment, genuine and without sarcasm or try to subtly hint at something, I think one should just accept it. Even if the teacher doesn’t know you that well or at all, I’m sure they were trying to just be kind.</p>
<p>Hard work is more respectable than talent or intelligence. Great things happen when people work hard and get lucky–and people who work hard do more things, so they ultimately have a better chance of getting lucky.</p>
<p>Your intelligence and talent is useless until you work hard.</p>
<p>People on CC are messed up. How dare your teacher suggest you worked hard, you’re too smart to work hard!</p>
<p>I accept those compliments politely but I don’t like them.</p>
<p>lol… I’d rather be praised for hard work rather than talent/intelligence</p>
<p>Although I do also believe the two come hand-in-hand…</p>
<p>Some people say these things out of habit. There might be some other reason that they’re making the statement, so I try my best not to judge why someone is giving me a compliment, no matter how I feel about its integrity.</p>