# Idiots and Professional Careers **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2018, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498 "2018-05-20T08:56:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/21 "2018-05-20T21:50:25Z")
“Intelligent” in no way means that you are smart about everything. Most people aren’t - we have our strengths and our weaknesses. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/22 "2018-05-20T22:19:11Z")
I have met so many wacko doctors and lawyers in my life, it almost seems like a job requirement. Particularly doctors. Here’s a thing I learned while working with lawyers: Doing great in law school in no way guarantees you will be a good lawyer. Some of the biggest burnouts I knew were top of their class all the way. One of them quit her lawyer job to go work in a cookie factory. On an assembly line. Also, all the librarians I’ve ever known have been big-time party animals in their off hours. Seems counterintuitive but there it is. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/23 "2018-05-20T22:28:56Z")
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I did figure it was somewhat confirmation bias, but needed others to confirm that, lol. I guess I just want to imagine that everyone in those fields are the cream of the crop. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/24 "2018-05-20T22:30:47Z")
Looking back 40-odd years ago to my high school and college days, the very best students went into teaching, medicine, law (but not as ambulance chasers), or some sort of creative activity. The middle group went into sales. The bottom group ended up in what I call “shut up and do your job” jobs. > [@kayaker](#): > > Then again, you know what they call it he person who graduates medical school last in his class. doctor The way I heard it: The top 1/3 medical students go into research The middle 1/3 go into medicine to help people The bottom 1/3 make the most money. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/25 "2018-05-20T22:53:35Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > I hope this is an isolated experience for someone in my age group (30) but I’ve noticed something over the years… The complete wrecks, \*\*idiots \*\*and party animal type ‘C’ students/otherwise complete dumpster fires I’ve known through the years became Doctors, Accountants, Teachers/Instructors, Legal experts etc. Those who are by far more intelligent (street smarts as well as in school) became Mechanics, Cops, Sheriff’s Deputies (Jails), Tradesmen and friggin janitors. Aside from “confirmation bias”, how are you determining how “intelligent” any of your data points are? For example, I went to a college that had a lot of “bros” and “frat guys” who you would think are all just drunks and stoners. But a lot of them were actually pretty smart. What I suspect too is that a lot of people who you might think are not “smart” may not seem that way because they don’t need to devote so much time appearing smart, polished and professional. Also, Mechanics, Cops, Sheriff’s Deputies (Jails), Tradesmen and friggin janitors might be very smart about the technical nature of their trades. But they might not be able to do the work in a med school or engineering program. Finally, accountants, teachers/Instructors, and legal experts aren’t exactly the height of professional intellectual achievement. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/26 "2018-05-21T02:33:24Z")
Here’s a thought. Mid-intellect people with some motivation learned good study habits in high school, because they had to, and that got them through college. Really bright kids didn’t need to study to get a qualifying grade, and got to college without knowing how. So there is a bias toward bright kids dropping out and average kids persevering. Colleges are designed to reward the motivated, not the smart. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/27 "2018-05-21T03:00:19Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Here’s a thought. Mid-intellect people with some motivation learned good study habits in high school, because they had to, and that got them through college. Really bright kids didn’t need to study to get a qualifying grade, and got to college without knowing how. So there is a bias toward bright kids dropping out and average kids persevering. > > Colleges are designed to reward the motivated, not the smart. I’m not so sure. Sure drive and ambition help and it plays into the popular “believe and you will achieve” narrative. But at some point, raw intellectual horsepower comes into play. At some point, unless you have the brainpower, you simply can’t study enough or remember enough or be creative enough to succeed in certain disciplines. It’s like that film Rudy. Most people see a film about a young man working hard to achieve his dream of playing football for Notre Dame. I see a man who lacks the fundamental skills to be credibly competitive. For all his drive, ambition and hard work, at best he achieves several seasons of being on the periphery of the sport and being given a token play out of pity at a time when it has no possibility to affect the outcome of the season. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/28 "2018-05-21T03:29:48Z")
The vast majority of jobs don’t require super intellect though. **jtur88** is specifically talking about mid-intellect people, people who the world is pretty much designed for. Of course there will be people that don’t have the brain power to achieve their dream, whatever it may be, but the vast majority of people can learn the required skills to do most jobs if they are determined enough. And when it comes to succeeding at university when a degree is a pre-requisite for a career it is not far fetched to suggest that it favors those who have had to put some work in to get through high school compared to those who could cruise through. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/29 "2018-05-21T04:07:19Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Also, Mechanics, Cops, Sheriff’s Deputies (Jails), Tradesmen and friggin janitors might be very smart about the technical nature of their trades. But they might not be able to do the work in a med school or engineering program. The smartest kid at my junior high, after graduating from the v/t school as valedictorian, got an associate’s degree in diesel mechanics from a local community college, and after working as one for a few years, has taught that subject at that school for quite a while. He would have been a dismal failure as a lawyer or a doctor, that’s for sure. And that school probably produces the best diesel mechanics anywhere. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/30 "2018-05-21T04:48:19Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > The vast majority of jobs don’t require super intellect . This is the main thing. You can succeed in almost any career just by knowing how to read a bit, remember a few facts, and then _act confidently_. Remember the bank crisis of 2008? The smartest Phd’s on Wall Street bought worthless mortagages, KNOWING fully in advance that they were worthless and that the guy who took the loan had no ability to pay it back. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498/31 "2018-05-21T06:14:30Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > This is the main thing. > You can succeed in almost any career just by knowing how to read a bit, remember a few facts, and then _act confidently_. > > Remember the bank crisis of 2008? The smartest Phd’s on Wall Street bought worthless mortagages, KNOWING fully in advance that they were worthless and that the guy who took the loan had no ability to pay it back. Not quite. They got suckers to buy the worthless mortgages and made a ton of money doing so. It did catch up to them eventually, but on the whole they passed the risk to the economy. So evil, not stupid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-and-professional-careers/814498.md?page=1)