Who am I?
Why am I here?
And,
Would you rather be:
Smart
or
Popular?
Socrates asked it.
He chose:
Smart.
What happened to him?
Death by hemlock.
Gilbert Blythe answered:
"Smart is better than being good-looking (or popular)."
And for that he had to work for years to earn the affections of his One True Love.
The Oldest Carrotstick's Honors English class debated that Eternal Question in class recently.
They took an anonymous survey of the class.
The vote was split 24 to 3.
Only three in the Honors class chose popularity.
The three dissenters proved to be our own family philosopher and fledgling hedonist -- the Oldest Carrotstick, and two of her friends (who, interestingly enough, are boys).
The three debated their choice thusly:
"If you're popular," they argued, "you can still be smart. And it's really important to have good people skills, when you have a job and stuff. Besides that, you'll have Way More Fun, than if you're just smart."
So there.
Add that to your Socratic paradoxes.
11 comments:
Oh my goodness, lunch lady. Did you seriously just compare Gilbert Blythe to Socrates? Such a shame...
Fortunately I (like your daughter) never had to make that choice, since I'm loaded with both.
Oh I LOVE Gilbert Blythe. But WHY is he such a non-entity in the books? I eventually stopped reading the series because they never mentioned him anymore. Anne is great and all and I recognize she IS of Green Gables, but I needed a little more male influence in that series.
That being said... Smart. As long as you aren't awkward, smart can overcome popular. Popular can never overcome STUPID.
I'm scared to have teenagers.
Miranda, be afraid. Be very afraid.
As I was reading this I was automatically on the side of being smart. Then after reading your daughters argument a few times I decided that I'm not sure which I'd rather be. I have decided that the oldest carrot stick is both smart and popular.
Don't you love teachers that get the kids thinking? Sounds like an awesome English class. Way to go oldest carrot stick.
The question gets really tricky when you add right and wrong to the smart and popular question. Sometimes doing something right is not a popular thing to do...and of course doing right is always smart.
I did think it was pretty smart of the teacher -- that's a subject most kids have an opinion on.
And I really like your right/wrong addition.
Excellent talking point. We will definitely be discussing that with her.
It shows true confindence in one's popularity and intelligence to take the road less traveled on that question.
As for A of GG. I have to agree somewhat with Shem. I remember doing a lot of skimming in Anne of Windy Poplars, searching in vain for the very few Gilbert passages. Definitely the most boring of the books. No Gil? No fun.
I would have to agree that you can be popular and smart and LC made an excellent point. I know a lot of smart people that have had a very hard time in life because they lack the people skills that popular people have. This is a debate that my Dad and I have had before while I innocently argued you could be both, he politely said or you could be niether.
I was so excited when I saw the picture of Gilbert..to me he was smart, popular and good looking! I might have to re-visit the series. I'm thinking you are going to have your hands full when the oldest carrotstick begins...shall I say it..dating.
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