Smartness go beyond the four walls of a classroom. Experience to me is the crossroad between street smart and book smartness.
Street smart denotes literally how one would fare/survive with nothing on the street literally making something out of nothing, studying your environment and providing its immediate need to make profit/ a living.
"Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood". Ralph Waldo Emerson
Street smartness is sometimes used as a cop out excuse to denote laziness in Academics but it mostly refer to people who are good at dealing with practical life problems.
In our society its a norm for example in Nigeria go to school, 6years primary education, 5years secondary, 4-6years in the University and next on the Hierarchy after graduation is ' get a Job ' and become a responsible citizen. Well it works for some and for many it doesn't.
An academically sound student with good grades should not only be confined to the classroom, because after years of schooling (12-14 school years) without real life experiences he/she may end up like a longtime caged animal whom when freedom is granted returns back into it's cage because that is the world, he knows and understand, he's mindset/ perception is limited.
The Urban dictionary defines book smart as Being able to succeed scholastically, and not necessarily in the real world. This stereotype usually refers to a highly educated upper class person who isn't knowledgeable in life skills & people skills. A book smart person absorbs written works by scholars, he/she injest someone's take on or his situational analysis, whereas a street smart individual puts himself at risk and survives, learns from his experiences and acquires battle scars as evidence of trying whereas a book smart person will entrust in the rules, the statistics and opinions of mentors & hero's past.
"People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves".
Paulo Coelho
Book smartness encourage job seekers while street smartness encourages entrepreneurship, go getters, fast thinkers in real life situations yet when you find a child who is book smart and isn't doing well in the real world it is the job of the parent, guardian or friend to give him/her time and guidance, for in today's world where income is low, taxes & inflation are up, month to month paycheck doesn't cover expenses. I highly recommend that we train ourselves to create a balance between both worlds, start a business, or volunteer to gather real life experiences rather than from an authors perspective (looking at the world with only one eye) because change is a constant, the times are changing. Encourage yourselves & youths to learn crafts, vocational (hands on) skills that can be applied for survival, rather than seeking out more books and degrees using money you do not have, or waiting on a dream 9-5 which may not be available and may not be capable of making you financially rich but rather you work daily to make ends meet & your bosses wealthy.
Time waits for no one, try something new, break free out of your box there's a lot to be experienced only if we had more courage, let's take baby steps rather than basking and telling ourselves reasons why we can or can't.
"Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh, how beautiful,' and sitting in the shade".
Rudyard Kipling
Have a beautiful life, you only have one.
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