What makes smart kids? I don’t think it’s intelligence. It’s self-consciousness. I think everyone has an “ignorance threshold”.
Your ignorance threshold is the level of knowledge you need to have on a subject in order not to feel stupid when you’re talking to people about that subject. Some people are perfectly comfortable going on and on about things they know nothing about — that’s a high ignorance threshold, because the person is comfortable operating with a high level of ignorance. Other people won’t express an opinion on anything unless they can cite sources — that’s a low ignorance threshold.
The smart kids at school, I’ll bet, are people with low ignorance thresholds. They aren’t as concerned with being dumb as they are with looking dumb. On the other hand, there are some very intelligent people who are comfortable with a lot of ignorance. They don’t do well in school, but they do well in life. (On a related note, here’s an interesting view on the “rewarding success vs. rewarding effort” debate.)
I don’t think you’ve made your case for why a low ignorance threshold would make somebody appear smart. Could you elaborate on why you think that is so?
Good point — I guess I did kind of leave that important bit of hypothesis out.
My idea is that the fear of looking dumb will drive people with low ignorance thresholds to fill their knowledge gaps. They will be more motivated to study (their textbooks, the news, the scriptures — whatever information source is relevant to their social circle), thus gaining knowledge and appearing smarter.
I think that a low ignorance could just as easily cause a person to clam up and avoid participating in anything that might take them out of that threshold. This would cause them to miss out on a lot of opportunities to learn. Having a higher ignorance threshold would allow a person more opportunity to learn by doing, receive additional clarifying instruction, and many other things that would help them become smarter.
I agree. There are a lot of things that motivate kids to learn — curiosity, good teachers, personal goals, etc. I’m not saying that all smart people fear looking dumb, or that everyone who fears looking dumb is smart, only that fear of looking dumb can be one motivating factor that is not often considered.