Are some people born stupid?

I often tell my students "No one is born stupid. Stupidity is a choice, it can be unlearned. So is wisdom and it can be acquired." Ok, maybe not in those exact words, but you get the drift.

Courtesy of Flickr - Cindi

University doesn't exist to give you knowledge and facts. If that was the case, then thanks to the Googlization of the internet, university would be obsolete. So what are you in university for? Ideally, you're there to learn how to learn; to acquire the tools you'll need to become a critical thinker, one who can observe, analyze, deduce and then implement whatever it is they're working on.

So what about you? Are you stuck in a course that you simply find hopeless? "Oh, math is not my thing." or "Biology has too much memorization." or "I'm terrible at writing!" 

Keep telling yourself that and you'll stay exactly where you are. Here is a secret long hidden... if you don't look for the ability to think and succeed - whatever it is your trying to do - you will not find it. It doesn't just come out of the blue. People aren't born wise, nor are they born stupid. They are born with the capacity to grasp and grow in both options, either leading them to successful and enriched lives or down a path of mediocrity and drudgery.

If you're failing in a course, school or the entire program, it's time to truly think about where you're at. To ask the right questions and move on. Maybe that means you change majors and do something you genuinely like or perhaps it means that you start deciding that you really are capable... you just have to realize it!

Marc Mikhael, Ph.D.
The Apprentice's Compass