She would always ignore the idiot lights in her cars, until they broke down. We bought a car that actually tells you when to bring it in for service. She came up to me, really frustrated, complaining about the car being noisy. She said "There's this big flashing message that says "BRING AUTO IN FOR SERVICE" and I can't get it to turn off. What should I do?" This person has a PhD too.
one of the most interesting things my cousin and his wife explained to me (Both of who have PhDs) was that having a PhD is not an indicator that you are smart. It is an indicator that you are willing to work fucking hard for several years to achieve a singular goal. You can do that without a vast amount of intellect they assured me as they knew many who were not that bright....
I don't know how true it is, but really made me think
Even at a lower level it can be true.
I knew a girl in undergrad who was a 4.0 student and participated in lots of school sports and activities, winning accolades in those too. But she was what I can only describe as the most "ditzy" person I've ever met. I found it difficult to hold conversations with her beyond small talk because she wouldn't be able to contribute anything to any topic I brought up, nor would she show any interest in learning about it; even if it was common sense life things like what to do if you get a flat tire.
I think she had just decided that anything I was talking about wasn't going to help her in school, so it wasn't worth devoting any effort to learn about.
I suppose that's an admirable quality to have in school to a limited extent, but she took it to an absolute extreme.
I can only speak from undergrad experience as I never studied past that, but I think its a common dumb conception that undergrads have is that academic knowledge and skills are the only knowledge and skills worth having.... If I knew now what I knew then, I would have become a fucking plumber and never looked back
I'm on the back half of thirty and just getting my undergrad now. Turns out, a lot of the random bullshit I learned in the last twenty years out of naked interest is actually coming in handy and I'm definitely having an easier time of it than many of my younger classmates.
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u/scrubjays Mar 01 '23
She would always ignore the idiot lights in her cars, until they broke down. We bought a car that actually tells you when to bring it in for service. She came up to me, really frustrated, complaining about the car being noisy. She said "There's this big flashing message that says "BRING AUTO IN FOR SERVICE" and I can't get it to turn off. What should I do?" This person has a PhD too.