< have come to the conclusion that drive is more important than brains>
Lindy, not more important than. Intelligence is a necessary but not sufficient condition, to coin a phrase.
One of the cruelties in life is people telling youngsters who want to succeed that they just need to work hard.
A guy in my high school sat School Certificate three times and failed. He would never pass, despite all due diligence. He just didn't have the brains needed. I felt sorry for him and he should have been out in the work world earning money and finding things he could succeed at. He had drive but lacked brains.
A 17 year old with our son at school in Japan was extremely motivated and was brilliant physically and studied like mad but just couldn't get the stuff into his head. Our son is a natural at languages and stuff and just absorbed it all like osmosis by watching tv, reading Dragonball and talking with his host mother. The guy who had to work hard, still tried, because he wanted to succeed, but he had to accept limited success. Same for all of us.
Unfortunately, these days, the idea is around that anyone can succeed academically if they just study hard enough. That's untrue and unkind because it sets youngsters up for failure, guilt and sense of inadequacy when all they need to do is find something they can achieve at with effort, and thereby enjoy success.
No motivation = no success. No brains = limited success. No immune system no success. No social skills = limited success. No sexual attractiveness = no children and end of the line. No opportunity = failure [such as being locked in Dachau or stuck in Uganda with Idi Amin as boss]. Bad luck = failure. And so on. It's a complex world. Arrogance = failure. Pride comes before a fall. Greed = failure. Seven deadly sins = failure.
Females, who mature 3 years earlier than males, are not properly educated because they are all just bundled in together by age. So during girls rapid brain development, they are parked in idle in primary school. No wonder there are few interested in science, maths and stuff which they never see until post-puberty [apart from the cultural attitudes to such things].
Islamic mania tends to suppress people really badly too.
Imagine how good things would be if it was all done right for each individual.
As you say, brains are over-rated. But they are still essential. I would never invent CDMA, even highly motivated. Irwin Jacobs does it for fun, and a lot more besides, but he has brains AND drive, as you say, and all sorts of social and other talents too.
Mqurice |
