Is Stupidity A Lack Of Intelligence ?

[modeller]

On the news a number of graduate and under graduates were interviewed
on their debt problems and in all the cases examined it was , writing out many postdated checks, direct debits , going to loan sharks, pay day companies etc. all, whilst having no jobs, or only part time jobs, living on student grants or hoping the family would help or as one said God would provide.
The definition of Stupidity ; is Lacking intelligence or Common sense but are any of these terms valid.

[Zeuhl]

I think there has always been a discrepancy between academic ability and 'common sense'

[sp1814]

modeller

Eh?

Are you asking whether the graduates are stupid?

[rojash]

I think you are confusing the state of being stupid (i.e lacking intelligence) with the act of behaving stupidly.

[emmie]

you should ask the parents who do this, take out loans from a legitimate source, bank, then realise heavens i can't afford to repay it, or what if i lose my job, it's human nature in all it's glory..

[joko]

some people do stupid things, and they know its stupid, they know they are being silly and probably heading for a fall... but they blunder through anyway because they don't know what else to do, or don't know how to stop it.
some are just young and have never had to deal with things themselves and just don't realise that things don't always just figure themselves out, as they did when they were kids... as you said, they had no 'real' fear because they thought they'd always be bailed out...
i bet the ones who genuinely had no-one to turn to were less likely to have got themselves into a mess.

but as said, being academically clever and having common sense an forethought are not the same thing.

being stupid and being an idiot are also different things.
the above people have been stupid for what they have done - but they are not idiots... well not all of them anyway!

[emmie]

many academics of my acquaintance couldn't tie their shoes laces, no common sense at all.

[modeller]

I oten think much of common sense is the resut of experience.
We all develop more common sense , as we see it , as we get older.

I remember two girls who were great friends , same age , same school ,
similar background, one of them went on to university. She was certainly the most intelligent but the other one was the one with the most common sense.

[pdq1]

Blame it on their parents or the school they went to. "You must study hard and get to university otherwise you will end up like those unemployed scroungers collecting their dole"

So they do get there and find they are unemployable because foreigners take their jobs for half the wages. They come down to earth pretty quickly and realise the riches are not there after all and have the same financial worries as the rest of us.

[ichkeria]

I don't understand the relevance of the question at the end to the bit preceding it about interviews with graduates.
Obviously due to a lack of intelligence aka stupidity :-)

[modeller]

em10 I was a teacher and there was a vast difference in common sense
amongst my colleagues
In general terms the more factual their subject was, the more common sense was evident.

[modeller]

S

[modeller]

icheria Sorry I can't answer as I can't sort out from your description what you are referring to.

[Old_Geezer]

A lack of intelligence would result in stupidity. But so would a lack of concentration. I'm unsure one should wrap such a question up with analyzing what a student does. A combination of the foolishness of youth coupled with a believe in themselves and their ability to sort it out when things are better is going to lead them into trouble if they aren't lucky. Sometimes you do what you have to do and trust for the best.

[ichkeria]

"icheria Sorry I can't answer as I can't sort out from your description what you are referring to. "

I'm talking about your question (the thing at the top of the thread) I don't understand it with regard to the first bit about a TV interview.
Or which "terms" might not be valid.
It doesn't seem to be a problem for anyone else but it is for little old me :-)

[ichkeria]

OK, after old_geezer's comments I understand a bit better now.
Without a link to the interview it's a bit difficult to comment on that, but otherwise I'd say yes: stupidity is a lack of intelligence.
But I see that you are perhaps implying that intelligent people can do stupid things, which I'd have thought was plainly the case.

[modeller]

Hi ickeria I was making the point that we associate intelligence with a reasonable level of common sense and certainly not with stupidity.
If that same interview had been carried out in a sink comprehensive we wouldn't have been a bit surprised but with youngsters of graduate calibre you would have expected/hoped for more foresight.

[jim360]

I don't get why people always assume intelligent people are thick when it comes to "common sense". I mean, it's probably true 90% of the time but don't malign the other 10%.

I'm one of the 90% unfortunately :( though not, thankfully, when it comes to financial matters. Parents to thank for that of course!

[modeller]

jim360 Why should you think anyone is being maligned when all I said was:
#On the news a number of graduate and under graduates were interviewed#
Since when has the word 'number ' equaled any percentage.

[joko]

Jim. actually it is you that has maligned intelligent people by even saying that - because no-one else has said that ALL intelligent people are thick when it comes to common sense - you did...

i mean 90%...?

there are thick people everywhere, but the surprise and incredulity comes from when someone who seems so intelligent behaves so stupidly ... not because all intelligent people are stupid...

[FredPuli43]

Mr Micawber lives, and always will. He lived by the day, and his constant belief was that something would turn up. No mere fiction; the character was modelled on Dickens's own father; such people are like these graduates and undergraduates, but not typical.