<p>I agree grey, next year is going to be no walk in the park, and that’s when the fun finally starts. I keep on hearing that there’s still a load of stupid people who just don’t get it though, perhaps at least I’ll be one of them this time.</p>
<ul>
<li>samoans that do nothing but talk about football and play the ukulele</li>
</ul>
<p>My current math teacher failed calculus a bunch of times, and needed 4 years to complete community college, 4 more years after that to get a bachelor’s degree, and 8 years to complete her PhD and is one of the smartest people I know. Some people just don’t learn as fast as others, it doesn’t make them dumb.</p>
<p>Actually by definition it pretty much makes them dumb. What else would make you dumb aside from learning very very slowly?</p>
<p>stu⋅pid
/ˈstupɪd, ˈstyu‑/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [stoo-pid, styoo‑] Show IPA adjective, -er, -est, noun
–adjective
- lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull.</p>
<p>This of course does not mean that one has to stay stupid or can not become smart, this simply means your teacher was once very very stupid. Perhaps now he’s no longer stupid, perhaps now he’s very smart. It depends though, does he still learn very slowly?</p>
<p>To me someone stupid is someone who doesn’t put any effort into anything.</p>
<p>Also Albert Einstein had dyslexia so by that definition Einstein is stupid. Obviously not a very good definition.</p>
<p>Albert Einstein did NOT learn very slowly, he grasped concepts like they were nothing, he was able to creatively visualize new concepts we’ve never seen before, that isn’t exactly a dull mind. What does dyslexia have anything to do with it? </p>
<p>Not putting in effort doesn’t make you stupid, it makes you unmotivated…</p>
<p>I tend to believe that the dumb kids do not get failing grades due to mental inabilities, but rather, a lack of knowing how to learn material in a smart way. They probably don’t put much effort into learning the material either. It may appear that they try really hard to understand in class and maybe even study before tests, but when they get home, they don’t do any homework or study for anything. This is either because of pure laziness or because they do not know what the teacher expects them to know and what she doesn’t. All they see is a 600 page textbook that is collecting dust. </p>
<pre><code> In class sometimes you notice some students who write down verbatim what the teacher puts up on PowerPoint. Then you notice the smart students sit down and relax with their coffee and listen without taking notes, or taking very little notes. I notice ‘dumb’ students are the ones writing everything down, and therefore lacking a basic understanding for what the lecturer is saying. They are not getting much out of the class, and then do very poor on exams.
The smart students usually know the structure of the exam, as well as material the professor kept spouting out. The ‘dumb’ kids do not have this information. Teachers are actually very straight forward if you just figure them out. To those of you who say you don’t do any work in a class and get A’s on every test, well there you go. You understand what the teacher is saying and you know what he/she expects on exams. Those who fail the tests try to do minimal work by ONLY working during class time, but they do not learn as much in class time as you do.
</code></pre>
<p>^ As I read through your post, so many instances from my personal history came to mind. And seriously, I’m that dude with the coffee. I think I have an ulcer. :(</p>
<p>For me it’s tea… I gave up coffee because it was starting to become an addiction. But seriously I don’t really do much work outside of class either. I think in my case I just have a really good memory.</p>
<p>Sadly what you describe IS mental inabilities, conditioned mental inabilities. These students are conditioned to not attempt to grasp the concepts but to just take notes and memorize it all later. Teachers on the other hand give tests that test our ability to freely draw upon the bigger concepts, thus it requires a thorough comprehension of the material which most students are incapable of grasping because they think it’s “too hard”. Their minds are conditioned to avoid it, thus they are stupid. </p>
<p>This isn’t just something you can fix in a day, it’s a conditioned habit that is very hard to get rid of. When I say mental inability I don’t mean they’re born with lesser intelligence, but that they’re conditioned to be stupid learners. I think a little philosophical critical thinking would greatly help in this area.</p>
<p>And justifiably so, critical thinking seems to give most of those types of learners the most trouble. It was kind of sad to see how much so many people struggled in my philosophy critical thinking class this past Fall.</p>
<p>When I saw the final grades for my last physics class there had only been 9 out of 20 who even passed the class. I wasn’t surprised because we all had computers at our tables and I could see most of the class was either surfing random websites throughout our entire lectures or doing their online hw that was due that morning. I don’t think these people are stupid, they’re just not willing to put in the effort. Too many people think they can miss class consistently and not do hw if it isn’t graded but you usually learn after a quarter or two of straight F’s or W’s. I did.</p>
<p>“Too many people think they can miss class consistently and not do hw if it isn’t graded but you usually learn after a quarter or two of straight F’s or W’s. I did.”</p>
<p>This is especially true at CC. Most classes, sadly, are not bastions of intellectual discourse. </p>
<p>But it’s not like a lot of these kids have much at stake, at least the younger ones who have strong family support(financial). </p>
<p>Others are like one of my brothers, who is a self-learned man and doesn’t like the constricted nature of college curriculum. He’s smart as a whip, though. I think he eventually got an AA in his mid-twenties after years of a class or two per semester(plus work), but it doesn’t really mean much. He’s doing quite well.</p>
<p>Hmm, cali… I take notes in my lecture classes and I get As. I tutor statistics at my CC and I find that people who do poorly in the subject have incomplete notes. </p>
<p>I will say, I struggled with drug problems (or however you want to say it) for a good three semesters, and (in the classes I DIDN’T drop, ha) I got mostly As and a a few Bs. If I can get an A in Criminology when I’m stoned… well… I don’t know what that says about community college EDUCATION! </p>
<p>Kkiiji, I totally get what you’re ranting about when you ask WHY people seem so unmotivated. It’s very frustrating when you are more knowledgeable than others in class. It makes me sad because I have a very hard time connecting with people. I do have to dumb myself down. I spoke about this with my good professors, and my former anthro. prof. told me it doesn’t get that much better at most of the UCs… (sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, it surely burst mine!)</p>
<p>What annoys me the most are the people who always have a long winded answer to an instructors question. If you are talking for more than 2 minutes in a lecture class and you are not giving a presentation, that’s enough! But sometimes I think maybe I have talked too much in class and people were like “Ah, when is that b going to shut up?!” haha</p>
<p>Well I can somewhat understand unmotivated people, I was once just like them in high school, I didn’t care to learn about anything. What helped me out the most were philosophy classes, they sparked my interest in…just about every subject. </p>
<p>What I can not understand is people who are motivated yet still fail miserably. Or well perhaps I should say I can’t relate, not that I can’t understand.</p>
<p>I totally get you about the people talking for too long thing though, especially some older folks who just ramble on and on and on.</p>
<p>loller +1 about the samoans!</p>
<p>hehe Jgee what CC do u go to ?</p>
<p>as i like to think, we are all born with tools since birth, but whether or not we posses the inate capability to master the tools given is definitive of potential.</p>
<p>i hate labels such as “smart” and “dumb”
…
blah.</p>
<p>i’ve been operating on 0 hours of sleep since… birth, so i’ll just stop before i write an essay.
i’ll go hibernate now. lol haha
byees =]</p>
<p>At my CC we have alllllllot of super super conservative russians… my CC’s student union took an official “stance for prop 8” it was quite horrible.</p>
<p>uh oh, we’re getting awfully close to fanning a flame there ;)</p>