Smart vs. Dumb

Through my 30 years of living, I have come to believe there are many different levels of smart and dumb. There is book smart people, street smart people, there are dumb people then there are REALLY dumb people. I don't know that dumb should be used to describe a child or student, before the high school age kids are still very capable of learning and obtaining information so they can be book smart and not "Dumb." Howard Gardner describes intelligence as "the ability to solve problems encountered by real life, generate new problems to solve, and make or offer something of value within a culture." That statement to me makes me think he is talking about street smarts since he is discussing things you might encounter in real life, like how to change a tire, getting along with others or how to traverse the New York City Subway system,  The valedictorian of my graduating class was very book smart, street smart....not so much. She good ramble off the number that represents Pi and fill in all the boxes of the periodic table, but didn't know any common sense and didn't know what type of gas to put in her car. I know these things because we were really good friends. So I believe that everyone has an opportunity to be smart and dumb! Bill Gates could be the world's smartest man, but if he lacks common knowledge (street smarts) doesn't that make him dumb? If the mechanic from the shop down the road can get greasy trying to figure out what happened to your engine didn't know how to build a computer software program, does that make him dumb?