Smart People

At our school, the highest grade you can get is a 7.

Next week I am going to FOSS.IN in Bangalore, India to hang out with smart people.

I mentioned that to the Year 12 Higher Levels, and they were miffed: "what about us, aren't we smart?"

They were terrified at my response, "Sorry, but no. Smart people don't get 7s, and getting 7s doesn't make you smart.”

They were astonished.

“In fact,” I continued, “smart people tend to avoid schools. Smart people don't like things like schools, rules and authority. They like freedom, which is hard to find in a school. I don't claim to be a smart person, but I like to hang out with them once in a while, just to feel their vibes."

My students were still stunned. I had challenged their worldview.

I went on, “Sometimes you will find smart people at universities, but rarely at schools. A university offers more freedom than a school.”

I am thinking of the mathematician Paul Erdos, a really, really, really smart person. He was so smart, he didn’t even have a home, much less a school. He just traveled around and threw himself upon people who wanted to take care of him, just so they could say, “I hung out with a smart person!” People like me!