Young Writers Society

First, what is a smart person.

Is it a person that has a wide breadth of knowledge or a wide depth of knowledge? Or is it someone with both qualities?

Do not confuse money with cleverness: money is the output of cleverness, not the input.

Grades, on a whole, do not really matter that much to the person they belong to. The grades matter though, to others who are trying to judge your intelligence. Obviously you can't get everything from a simple test, some of this must be practical, not academic.

Nonetheless, grades (and the degrees that can come with them) say something about yourself to others. An A in calculus screams potential, but a D in the same class suggests an inferiority.

Having an A in calculus doesn't say anything about intelligence, only proficency. The most intelligent people are those that are able to organize themselves and others into groups. Any math major can sit in a room all day solving math problems, but if he can take those problems and use them to solve every day problems, then he has actually accomplished something.

So being a smart person isn't simply a breadth or depth of knowledge, but an application of knowledge versus a proficency of knowledge.

Grades alone aren't what people are looking for when hiring for the good jobs. However, they look at the grades because they show you can work hard and are motivated to succeed.

I've always thought of a smart person as someone who can think quickly and understand things. When I say think quickly, I don't mean as in speed maths or anything (otherwise I'd be the dumbest person on the planet) I just mean they think quickly. Have you ever met someone in whom you can see the little sparkle as the person travels along a promising thought line? Well, that's the sort of person I'd say was clever. Does that make sense?

Anyway, as for grades ...

... hmmm ...

I personally HATE the idea that grades should be the greatest of all aspirations and be what you judge people on and so forth. I ABSOLUTELY HATE it. And my family tend to do that a fair bit.

I'm a straight A girl. I've gotten B's in PE (which I hated and don't do any more) and now some in year 12 music (which I'm doing in year 11 and is pretty tough) and that's it. It is not acceptable for me to get a B. B's are humiliating. I grew up learning that from my family. They don't say it in so many words, but my brother and mum will tease me for getting a B. When you mention someone at school they haven't heard of, one of their first questions about them will be "are they smart?" and you can bet they're referring to grades.

Well ... mum's not to bad. She's a teacher. She knows that some people will always have to try a lot harder at school than others and still won't get the same grade as someone who doesn't try as hard but has that previously mentioned sparkle. She's not so bad. But she does let her opinion of a person rest on their school work quite a bit.

My brother is TERRIBLE. He is OBBSESSED with doing work and learning things, and you can hear the superiority in his voice when he talks about other people in his class. He really rests A LOT on grades. If you say someone seems like a nice person, he'd probably say "they got a C in Maths. They never do any work." or "Oh yeah, they're really good at Maths." and that's it. That's all there is on the matter for him.

Is that the sort of thing you're talking about?

Personally ... school's not such a big worry. I always do the work, and I do it as well as we're told to and sometimes better, but I try not to spend to much time on it. If there's a choice between skimping a bit on my Maths homework and watching a TV show that's really funny, I pick TV.

But it's good to get good grades, if only because you'll have more options in the future.

The smart thing ... often it does affect your grades. Not always, but often.

Not going to university does not necessarily mean bad job, dead end career. There are tons of options that you don't have to go to uni for, you can be apprenticed in a trade. Now your plumbers, carpenters, electrictians, may not have had the best grades at school, but they are professionals in their own right.

And those who do have great grades at school, they may not get the best jobs either. going to university and getting a degree or whatever is no guarantee of a job in the profession you chose, and then you're stuck with a huge student loan and a job thats not much better than if you went straight from high school into the work force.

Good grades do not mean stunning careers and loads of money.

Its not the grades that matter, but what the person chooses to do with them. My sister keeps on at me because I got good grades, i was Dux of my school and I'm working in a supermarket. But that is my choice, there are options for me from there if i want to take them, but maybe I don't. I have other priorities.

Its all about priorities and never forget you may start at the bottom but you can work your way up. The thing is, do yuo want grades, your career, money to be the most important things in your life?

I was watching the Aprentice(London), and the 2 finalists have 5 GCSE'S between them! Someone may get amazing grades in college, uni etc. But its what you do with them that counts, you need to have the ambition to use the grades to get far in life. And if you don't have good grades it does not mean your not smart enough to become successful, you really need the drive and ambition and know where you want to be in 10 years.