# Sometimes education can make you stupid. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 21, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239 "2014-03-21T18:43:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/21 "2015-01-21T14:48:31Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > A cerebral hemorrhage is not genetic, (as far as I have ever heard), so it is not relevant to a family history looking for genetic issues. Doesn’t matter. Physicians still want the cause of death. And arterial stenosis (which has a genetic component) is a risk factor for cerebral hemmorhage. The point remains that there should be a “don’t know” box for all this shit. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/22 "2015-01-22T03:32:27Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > Apoplexy already runs in my family. Did you include that in the form? You can die from undescended testicles?! ---
**Author:** ![dunkleosteus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkleosteus/32/9331_2.png) [@dunkleosteus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dunkleosteus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/23 "2015-01-22T15:54:21Z")
I don’t think education makes you stupid. I think education is geared towards teaching people facts, information and procedures (ie formulas, methodologies etc). I think a lot of these facts are pretty useful, and I condone the pursuit of them. However, having facts and information doesn’t suddenly cure stupidity. I think stupidity is related to problem solving and learning. Education can solve ignorance though, and ignorance can be just as big a problem as stupidity is. I think stupidity can be exacerbated by education though. In this case education is a tool, but any tool can be misused by someone misguided. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/24 "2015-01-22T16:24:27Z")
I believe the correct spelling is _edjumacation_. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/25 "2015-01-22T16:29:56Z")
Worst Robin Williams film ever. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/26 "2015-01-22T16:40:59Z")
I’m still lost on what the hell a badly-designed form has to do with education, college-level or otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/27 "2015-01-22T16:45:21Z")
Yeah I’m confused on the education angle too. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/28 "2015-01-22T17:08:22Z")
As I noted about 10 months ago, I believe the link between the OP and education depends on the presence of damned kids upon pristine lawns. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/29 "2015-01-22T22:46:20Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Yeah, I’d blame committee design meetings before I blame education. Thirded. I design these kind of forms (though I didn’t do the one you were just working on), and the work environment is just insane. We are told what to do at the last minute, given insane deadlines (It has to be done by tomorrow?) and then our work is nitpicked by busybodies who delight in finding some fault with our work to justify their inflated salaries. Yes, we know the form doesn’t make sense. The reason it doesn’t make sense is that Big Boss #1 told me it _had_ to include X, Y, Z, and be done by Friday morning. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/30 "2015-01-23T06:43:01Z")
Back when I turned 65, I filled out a lengthy form - possibly the same one the OP filled out. After answering every question without problem, I was on the last page. They wanted me to type my full name, including middle initial. Since I don’t have a middle name (or initial), I left that blank. It wouldn’t accept a name without a middle initial. So I just typed any letter there . . . and it wouldn’t accept it because it didn’t match a name in their records . . . the name without a middle initial. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/31 "2015-01-23T06:52:53Z")
Uh how can you even remember 5% of the incredibly detailed info asked for? You can remember when you got a polio vaccine?! In 1959?!?! It asks for this level of detail, who except rare memory savants could recall this? If you asked me I could not even provide specific immunizations, aside from whatever was required for public school for someone born in the early 80s. Other than that SHRUG. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/32 "2015-01-23T12:43:13Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Back when I turned 65, I filled out a lengthy form - possibly the same one the OP filled out. After answering every question without problem, I was on the last page. They wanted me to type my full name, including middle initial. Since I don’t have a middle name (or initial), I left that blank. It wouldn’t accept a name without a middle initial. So I just typed any letter there . . . and it wouldn’t accept it because it didn’t match a name in their records . . . the name without a middle initial. ^ Ugh! I _hate_ that sort of thing. I don’t have a middle name or initial, either. I have had people tell me it’s a _legal requirement_ to have a middle name in the US. Nope, it isn’t. Having hyphenated name also plays merry hell with forms, but when I got married in the 1980’s it wasn’t the problem it is now but I guess I was responsible for seeing the future. Seriously, can’t we get it through bureaucratic heads that not everyone is named John Q. Public? Actually, the issue is getting better, but my bank recently had to reprint my check order because someone on their end didn’t understand hyphenated names and mangled mine. It’s been a problem with that bank since ownership changed back in the early 00’s - when the ownership changed someone _changed the name on my account_ without permission, apparently under the assumption that yes, you have to have a middle name and I’m too stupid to know my own label. WTF? They wanted to charge me to correct the problem but I raised enough hell, and called up the supervisor chain far enough, that they had to change it back without charge to me. Happily, though, the state government, public aid, the Federal government, and my current employer all manage to cope with those of us with “strange” name configurations without a ruffled feather. But, yes, I hate those modern medical forms with drop-down boxes and limited choices. “List all vaccinations you had as a child”…mmm, OK, where’s the one for “smallpox”? “List date of on-set for allergies” - oh, damn, I was an infant, I don’t know. “Can you ask your mother?” Not really, she’s been dead these last few years. I can only imagine the adopted have worse problems when it comes to listing medical family history. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know…” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/33 "2015-01-24T06:31:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > You try do design a form that accepts answers like “after we took a vacation to the beach and before the dog died.” This has nothing to do with education, it has a lot to do with it being a lot easier to manipulate dates rather than random text strings. For Medicare especially no one gives a shit. Who said anything about free form? Just don’t ask for specificity you don’t need. If you really are only concerned with the year, ask for the year, save if it’s been so close that the month is relevant. (We’re digital now. Forums are not static) At the very least, specifically mention that approximations are okay if they are. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/34 "2015-01-24T06:55:48Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > ^ Ugh! I _hate_ that sort of thing. I don’t have a middle name or initial, either. I have had people tell me it’s a _legal requirement_ to have a middle name in the US. Nope, it isn’t. > > Having hyphenated name also plays merry hell with forms, but when I got married in the 1980’s it wasn’t the problem it is now but I guess I was responsible for seeing the future. > > Seriously, can’t we get it through bureaucratic heads that not everyone is named John Q. Public? > > Actually, the issue is getting better, but my bank recently had to reprint my check order because someone on their end didn’t understand hyphenated names and mangled mine. It’s been a problem with that bank since ownership changed back in the early 00’s - when the ownership changed someone _changed the name on my account_ without permission, apparently under the assumption that yes, you have to have a middle name and I’m too stupid to know my own label. WTF? They wanted to charge me to correct the problem but I raised enough hell, and called up the supervisor chain far enough, that they had to change it back without charge to me. > > Happily, though, the state government, public aid, the Federal government, and my current employer all manage to cope with those of us with “strange” name configurations without a ruffled feather. > > But, yes, I hate those modern medical forms with drop-down boxes and limited choices. “List all vaccinations you had as a child”…mmm, OK, where’s the one for “smallpox”? “List date of on-set for allergies” - oh, damn, I was an infant, I don’t know. “Can you ask your mother?” Not really, she’s been dead these last few years. > > I can only imagine the adopted have worse problems when it comes to listing medical family history. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know…” This is an issue with debit cards too, my wife has one that has her name hyphenated but doesn’t have enough room for the full name so it just cuts off the end. A stupid as bricks clerk actually hassled her over it, your ID says you’re Really Dumb-Example and your card says REALLY DUMB-EXA so this isn’t you. :smack: ---
**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:** [January 25, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/35 "2015-01-25T02:09:27Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > ^ Ugh! I _hate_ that sort of thing. I don’t have a middle name or initial, either. I have had people tell me it’s a _legal requirement_ to have a middle name in the US. Nope, it isn’t. I have no middle name, and I can’t remember a time it has ever been a problem. Not on tax forms, social security cards, or even draft cards. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/36 "2015-01-25T02:33:12Z")
Yes, the government forms are fine… but I’ve worked at companies where the record keepers go into a tizzy, HR just can’t get my name right, and so on. Region of the country might also have an effect - I’m currently living in a conservative area. On the other hand, some of the worst problems occurred while living in Chicago so… nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/37 "2015-01-25T04:00:26Z")
> [@codyedwardwilliams](#): > > online transactions should be well-made and user-friendly. besides, the main reason why they exist is for the convenience of the users and the establishment itself. And if you can get yourself locked out of a website by breathing on your keyboard, it shouldn’t take a phone call and an act of Congress to get yourself reinstated. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/38 "2015-01-25T15:36:21Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Back when I turned 65, I filled out a lengthy form - possibly the same one the OP filled out. After answering every question without problem, I was on the last page. They wanted me to type my full name, including middle initial. Since I don’t have a middle name (or initial), I left that blank. It wouldn’t accept a name without a middle initial. So I just typed any letter there . . . and it wouldn’t accept it because it didn’t match a name in their records . . . the name without a middle initial. I had a hell of a time at my last place. According to the USPS, our address (house) did not exist but the address for the mobile home (unit B) in the back field did. I had a lot of forms claiming my address did not exist. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/39 "2015-01-25T16:11:10Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > Nice haiku. Youth will end up under the grass someday, too. Grass always gets the last laugh. You haiku, too. Almost: Youth will end under the grass someday too. Grass gets the last laugh. Always. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239/40 "2015-01-25T16:35:25Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Back when I turned 65, I filled out a lengthy form - possibly the same one the OP filled out. After answering every question without problem, I was on the last page. They wanted me to type my full name, including middle initial. Since I don’t have a middle name (or initial), I left that blank. It wouldn’t accept a name without a middle initial. So I just typed any letter there . . . and it wouldn’t accept it because it didn’t match a name in their records . . . the name without a middle initial. Here’s an interesting article about just how difficult it can be to write programs to accommodate variant name formats: [Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/). Eye-opening, especially #40. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sometimes-education-can-make-you-stupid/684239.md?page=3)