Smarts of All Kinds

How do you know if you are smart or dumb?  Does it depend on your book smarts or your street smarts?  If you get good grades in school, are you necessarily smart or are you just trying hard?  Charlie Gordon was a mentally disabled 37 year old man.  He believed that if he was smarter, he would have more friends.  In many instances this is not the case.  For example, think of a stereotypical nerd.  A lot of “geeks” lack social skills because their brains are completely focused on all of their school work and do not have room to store social skills.  This makes them socially awkward.  On the other hand, the stereotypical “popular” crowd is dumb, but they have tons of friends.  We think that it depends on the kind of atmosphere an intelligent person is in and the amount of social skills they have.  It is difficult for a “nerd” to gain social skills when they are always being put down or bullied.  Although some people think smart people have more friends, we think that it depends on the personalities and social skills of a person rather than their level of intelligence.  Challenges are faced with both intelligent and mentally disabled people.  One problem smart people face is that they are expected to know everything.  They are asked questions about homework and classwork and sometimes they struggle to answer these.  On the contrary, mentally disabled people have very obvious problems they have to face.  Some of these problems include learning, making friends, and simple tasks the average person could complete with ease.  Mentally disabled people have the brains of little kids, but they are treated like adults.  It would be hard for anyone to learn if they had the mind of a toddler.

Lane, Aydon, Madeline

A-Aron

i have one brother and one sister a am the youngest. my brother is 18 and my sister is about 22. My brother is in the us army. Im not sure what my sister does. Im in eighth grade but i’m supposed to be in high school though i got held back in kindergarden. I only play one sport though baseball i used to play football, and basketball.

My favorite thing to do is shoot guns. I used to ride dirt bikes but i sold my dirt bike i still have a quad but its really old and the engine is blown up so its just a parts bike now. I also like to play video games but i don’t have like any of my games so i can’t really play it. Probably my least favorite thing to do is go to school. My second least favorite thing to do is go shopping with my mom. I have got’n kind of used to that though because i’ve done it for so long.

When i get older i want to go to college and after that join the Navy i’d rather not say what i want to do in the military though. I’ve wanted to go to the military since i was probably eight years old. I am originally from Humboldt county California. when i was 13 i moved down to San Jose with my dad i spent about 6-7 months down there but i didn’t really like it so i moved back to Humboldt county with my mom and then we moved to Utah. i have a dog and she is a Chocolate Lab and she is a puppy she’s really cute and she’s a little over 5 months old i already taught her how to shake, switch paws, shake with both paws, how sit, and how to stay. We are watching my brothers dog until he gets out of the military. He’s a Lab slash German Shepard.

Flowers for Algernon

        

        Flowers for Algernon is about a boy named Charlie who goes to a school for people with learning disabilities. Charlie really wants to become smart. Charlie wants to become smart because he thinks that he will have more friends if he is smart. We think that sometimes smart people have more friends but sometimes smart people have less friends. It just depends. 

        Sometimes people like to hang out with smart people instead of people that are not so smart. People like to have smart friends because they want to hang out with people that know what they are doing and have common sense. People also like to have smart friends because they can help them with stuff that they do not understand!

        However, there are some people that are really smart and they do not have many friends. This is because other people may think that they are a little bit “nerdy” or to smart to be around. There are people who do not like to be with people that are a little bit “nerdy” because they are not cool enough and they do not want to be seen with them. People may also not want to be friends with “nerdy” people because they might just focus on studying and not do other things with their friends. People that are really smart may not be as smart in the social world.

        In conclusion, we think that sometimes smart people have a lot of friend but sometimes smart people do not have that many friends. People like to have friends that have common sense and people that are social.

By: Marisa, Aaron, and Maria

The Grass Isn't Greener On the Other Side

Many people think that "smart" people have everything going for them. The fact is, they don't. We have been reading Flowers for Algernon.  Charlie, who is the main character has challenges and a learning disability.  Charlie strives to be smart to have friends.  However, people like Charlie and "smart" people both face challenges.  Charlie has been only exposed to a small amount of diversity.  He does not yet undersand that "smart" people are also face challenges regarding friends. They have loads of pressure put on them. "Smart" people are often teased about being too smart. Society has many expectations. It makes people think that there is a certain level of intelligence that is perfect and will allow them to fit in. There is no perfect level of intelligence, because there is no such thing as perfect.

Charlie's definition of "smart" may be (and probably is) completely different from what others think "smart" really is. Charlie may think that smart is when they can reach out to people without being criticized. Others see being smart as being able to get good grades, know every answer to every question, and be anti-social. It is hard to combine both of these views into one. It is like comparing apples to oranges. People like Charlie socialize with people who relate to them, and the same goes with "smart" people. So when Charlie becomes smart, then he might only hang out with people who are smart like him.

Finally, people only see the perks of being on the other side of grass. People aren't willing to see the negative aspects of another side. Only when they get to the other side will they realize that the grass isn't greener on the other side. This idea will never end; It's a cycle. Being intelligent has no real definition, because everybody sees it in a different way. Everybody is different, therefore, there is not such thing as an intelligence test. An intelligence test cannot test every detail of a persons mind.

Friendly Smarts?

There are many different stereo-types on smart people. In Flowers for Algernon Charlie wishes to be smart because he thinks that by being smarter he will get more friends. We believe that in this case it isn't the reason.  Whether or not someone is smart has friends is based on how they act and do things. Most people like Charley with disabilities look at things differently then the way we look at them. They are often ignored by others because of the same reason that they are different, but I believe it doesn't matter whether they have disabilities or not. People like Charley have many challenges in life such as being manipulated by others, they have trouble seeing things the way we do, they may have trouble understanding others, and they far more likely to be learning impaired.

People who are not troubled with learning are often facing many more problems than those who are. Many of them are constantly worried about what their future will hold or what they have done in the past. Insults are often taken far more seriously and they feud far more often. They are constantly seeking out their dreams despite the fact that most of them know that likely will never achieve it.

The reason why most people are unhappy in life is because they always want more. Many of the less intelligent people are happy with what they have. They have their own dreams and goals, but they are happy with what they have now. Most people in todays society are unhappy with what they have. They want more. They are pressured to fulfill goals and deadlines while most of the lower class citizens aren't pressed to do much.

Flowers for Algernon...Friends and Foes

Friends vs. Foes. When it comes to smart vs. dumb people, there is much more to it than just the outer layer, and the stereotypical ideas. In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie says he wants to be smarter so that he can have more friends. He believes that smarter people have more friends because they might be more popular.  We believe differently. Friendship isn't based on intelligence but whether your personality and similarities with others. Smart people can be spotlighted for friendship because they could be used.  They are the calculator in math, the people that will help you with your homework and the people that will help you do better in school.  This is why they are targeted as friends, but they don't always have friends because they can be know it alls.   But, smart people are just like dumb people, they are just more in tune with some academic skills. Dumb people aren't really dumb, they just aren't as skilled as others in a certain topic or area.  They are tagged as stupid and such, but sometimes they can be the nicest people and will have many friends. But that isn't always true. Smart vs. Dumb is all a big stereotype.

People like Charlie are autistic but that doesn't classify them as dumb, doesn't mean that do or don't have challenges that regular people have.  People all have the kind of challenges.  An autistic child or adult will have to work harder and that can be a challenge but how do children get smart in the first place.  Some challenges that both categories have alike can be family problems and social problems.  They both might be going through the situation of divorced parents, or losses in the family.  Both groups will have fights with friends and will break apart or join with other people.  Parents of 'smart' children might have higher expectations of their children, which will stress the adolescent and maybe add more challenging situations.  Parents of autistic children want their child to do well and might not apply as much pressure on the child, and just hope for average skill.  But that doesn't mean that they are any less intelligent that the average person.  In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie was taking a test of sorts and they help up ink blots.  He said he didn't see anything in the ink blots, while others might see a frog, a person, etc.  People might not connect things in their minds as other might.  People don't see things the same way.  This can be presented as a challenge but all challenges can be overcome.

Challenges are there for both 'smart' and slower children.  The challenges can be different and they can be the same. Challenges like divorced parents, mean groups, and such are alike for both.  Challenges such as more pressure are alike for both.  Slower children may be confined or cut out, and smart people may be crowded or overcome with assignments/pressure.  Always know that challenges can be overcome.

Smart vs. Regular

We think that how many friends you have is not based on how smart you are. It depends on your personality. If you are really smart you will have friends that are very smart as well. When someone is exceptionally smart, people call them nerds and they may not have as many friends as an average person might. However, some of the most popular people are very smart, and they have a lot of friends. It all depends on the person's personality, and how they act with their peers.

Challenges that people like Charlie have could be things like people underestimating them or thinking that they are not smart. A lot of people with disabilities or learning disabilities are thought of as dumb, but that says nothing about how smart or dumb they really are. In school, children with disabilities don't take the same classes that the "smart" people have. They have to take classes of their level of learning. In the movie, Charlie really wanted to be chosen for the experiment because he wanted to be smart. "Smart" is not always measured by the amount of work you do and the grades you get, but by how much you actually understand. Some of the smartest people in the world failed classes, but they are still the smartest in the world.

"Smart" people do have challenges because their parents expect more of them and they have to work harder. Smart people try to take harder classes in school, because it could give them the opportunity to make them "smarter". Another challenge that exceptionally smart people might face is being called nerds or geeks. They are called names and picked on because they stand out from the rest of their class and people think of them as gifted, which means that they are not normal.


Dani, Israel, America