A related matter which I feel needs addressing: schooling does not teach a person to be intelligent. They can teach knowledge, they can teach theory, they can teach statistics, but they do not teach students to ask why. The knowledge, theories, and statistics are easy to convey; it takes time and effort, and of course a willingness on the behalf of the other party to learn, but there is no true challenge in teaching somebody these things. With enough time and persistence, anybody can learn them.
But to teach a person to think for themselves, to seek out answers and find the real reasons for what happens instead of sticking to a formula even when the formula fails... That is something that is not taught properly in schools. You cannot force a person to be curious, nor can you make them seek out answers to questions on their own. These things can be inspired, but no effort is made to do so for most students. So many leave school believing they are intelligent because they have knowledge, theories, and statistics, not realizing that they lack the most important tools of all: to be able to step back look at why it all means what it does as well as step forward and see why something specific happens.
That, above all else, is why I distrust those who turn to those three things in place of actual reasoning.
Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.
