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Sean Troy
01-16-2009, 12:40 PM
;) Would you rather be book smart or have common sense? Just a question to get the brain working and thinking for excercise before the weekend shop outings. Don't say both, just which one seems more important to you to survive in this day and age.

Jim Becker
01-16-2009, 12:44 PM
Yes! Err...ok, you said we couldn't say that.

While I crave "knowledge" I KNOW that common sense is more valuable in life. Therefore, that will be my answer.

Dewey Torres
01-16-2009, 12:46 PM
Common sense makes common sense

Mitchell Andrus
01-16-2009, 12:48 PM
Common sense helps gain knowledge.

Having knowledge doesn't create common sense.

Ben Rafael
01-16-2009, 12:52 PM
Common sense.
Our entire financial mess today is because of people who have no common sense. Many of them are well educated, some uneducated; but the one thing they have in common is zero common sense.

Thomas Bank
01-16-2009, 1:36 PM
Common sense. As my grandfather used to say - "He's so educated he can't think straight." I know entirely too many people that can spew facts and figures but when faced with a practical issue cannot accomplish anything. Sort of like knowing the lumen output, metallurgy, electrical equations, and coating composition of a lightbulb but are completely unable to change one when it burns out.

David G Baker
01-16-2009, 3:33 PM
Most folks with common sense are book smart as well. If I had a choice I would vote for common sense as the priority in my case.
I have seen many people that are book smart and have almost no common sense. At one time I made quite a bit of money filling in the voids for them by doing their plumbing, electrical work, appliance repair, etc.

Brian Brown
01-16-2009, 4:34 PM
When grey matter was handed out, my brother went back to the brains table so many times that the common sense table was closed when he finally got there. He is the smartest person I know, but posses absolutely no common sense. None, zip, zero, zilch, nada! It is absolutely amazing to see some of the things he does in the name of "it's the smart thing to do". :eek::confused::eek: On the plus side, some of his actions provide the rest of the family with great entertainment value.

If I had to vote, I'd choose common sense. Knowledge can be obtained, but I'm not so sure about horse sense. Unfortunately for me, when grey matter was handed out, I was on vacation, so I got neither. :(

Greg Cole
01-16-2009, 5:05 PM
I'll take the rather uncommon "common sense" every time.

Roger Warford
01-16-2009, 5:23 PM
I read that common sense was best.;)

Ben Rafael
01-16-2009, 5:26 PM
When grey matter was handed out, my brother went back to the brains table so many times that the common sense table was closed when he finally got there. He is the smartest person I know, but posses absolutely no common sense. None, zip, zero, zilch, nada! It is absolutely amazing to see some of the things he does in the name of "it's the smart thing to do". :eek::confused::eek: On the plus side, some of his actions provide the rest of the family with great entertainment value.

If I had to vote, I'd choose common sense. Knowledge can be obtained, but I'm not so sure about horse sense. Unfortunately for me, when grey matter was handed out, I was on vacation, so I got neither. :(

Sounds like you do have common sense. You're just underestimating yourself.

glenn bradley
01-16-2009, 6:05 PM
Common sense helps gain knowledge.

Having knowledge doesn't create common sense.

And Mitchell NAILS it!

Chris Padilla
01-16-2009, 6:19 PM
This thread makes no sense...too common for me....


:D

Danny Thompson
01-16-2009, 10:09 PM
Whatever makes cents.

Larry Browning
01-16-2009, 10:15 PM
Anyone with common sense would know it takes a well educated person to get along in life.

Bruce Page
01-16-2009, 10:43 PM
Book smart pays a lot better.

Clifford Mescher
01-16-2009, 11:53 PM
Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done. Knowledge has to be improved , challenged, and increased constantly or it vanishes. Clifford.

Dennis Peacock
01-17-2009, 12:47 AM
I choose common sense.
I've trained MANY people that have "book learning".

Neal Clayton
01-17-2009, 5:39 AM
;) Would you rather be book smart or have common sense? Just a question to get the brain working and thinking for excercise before the weekend shop outings. Don't say both, just which one seems more important to you to survive in this day and age.

i don't think there's a difference. there's smart and not very smart. someone who can memorize what they're taught but not understand it just happens to have a talent for memorization, that doesn't make them smart or good at applying that knowledge.

common sense goes just as far in an office as it does anywhere else. and people who lack it are limited no matter how many degrees they have hanging on their wall.

besides, anything short of a phd is just a function of showing up every day to anyone of average intelligence or better for quite a few educational paths.

Glenn Clabo
01-17-2009, 6:39 AM
Common sense is wasted by lack of knowledge. Most people I've enjoyed working with...or just hanging around with...continue to absorb as much knowledge as they can. I have little tolarance of those who brag about never reading a book.

Belinda Barfield
01-17-2009, 8:37 AM
I'm with Mitchell. You can't learn common sense.

My common sense tells me that I need more than common sense to get by in the world as I know it, but I think common sense is necessary for survival.

My SO said just the other day, "Some people don't have enough matter to matter." This was just after we watched two young men attempting to hold up their pants as they ran across the road just ahead of an oncoming city bus. I don't think either of them had any sense, common or otherwise.

Bonnie Campbell
01-17-2009, 9:22 AM
I'd pick common sense....

Common sense tells you to take the plastic off a pizza before you bake it.

Book learning has to spell it out in the cooking directions.......

A combination of the two is best, but picking just one, common sense wins.

Sonny Edmonds
01-17-2009, 11:37 AM
Common sense cannot be taught.
Knowledge can. Or the appearance of being knowledgeable can be taught.
Having way too much common sense has helped me become knowledgeable.
But I have known many, many people who learned a lot, but can't figure out toilet paper. :rolleyes:

Montgomery Scott
01-17-2009, 12:27 PM
To survive you need common sense, but choosing between them I'll take book smart.

I'm not in the 95th percentile for income because I've got common sense.

Ben Rafael
01-17-2009, 12:57 PM
Common sense says that breastfeeding is generally healthier for a baby. Booksmart says that we need to spend millions of dollars researching this to conclude that breastfeeding is generally healthier for a baby.

I worked in a university for years, the amount of nonsense research was astronomical. The above is just an example of what I saw.
Researchers became blind to common sense and chased research money.
Their was also a tremendous lack of "wisdom" to many of the book smart.

Ken Fitzgerald
01-17-2009, 4:00 PM
Common sense.......I have worked with a number of educated idiots.

Ron Jones near Indy
01-17-2009, 6:44 PM
Common sense usually leads to education in one form or another.

John Schreiber
01-17-2009, 8:01 PM
I know you said that you can't answer both, but I'm going to break the rules. Common sense is necessary to succeed or even get by in life. But higher thinking makes life more than a struggle to stay alive.

Too often, we think questions are "either or." Usually good answers are "both and."

Ben Rafael
01-19-2009, 9:22 PM
Book smart pays a lot better.

And the book smart will need the money.

Karl Brogger
01-19-2009, 9:31 PM
Book smarts can help you make a living. Common sense will help you keep living. For instance, you can have an IQ of 165 and have a PHD in everything, but it won't help when you tap a grizzly bear on the shoulder and offer half of your cupcake to him.

Karl Brogger
01-19-2009, 9:33 PM
I know you said that you can't answer both, but I'm going to break the rules. Common sense is necessary to succeed or even get by in life. But higher thinking makes life more than a struggle to stay alive.

Too often, we think questions are "either or." Usually good answers are "both and."


Tell that to the creepy smart kid I went to highschool with. That boy had a brain, but didn't function in society too well. I'm sure by now he has a backyard full of the neighborhoods dead pets. He was always lighting stuff on fire too. Why is it always fire with these rare types?

Ben Rafael
01-20-2009, 11:06 AM
Book smarts can help you make a living. Common sense will help you keep living. For instance, you can have an IQ of 165 and have a PHD in everything, but it won't help when you tap a grizzly bear on the shoulder and offer half of your cupcake to him.

I am related to some well educated people, one called in a repairman when their TV wasn't working because their maid unplugged the TV to use the Vacuum.
These people have been a never ending source of entertainment, a week doesn't go by without some high comedy.

Rod Sheridan
01-20-2009, 1:23 PM
I know you said that you can't answer both, but I'm going to break the rules. Common sense is necessary to succeed or even get by in life. But higher thinking makes life more than a struggle to stay alive.

Too often, we think questions are "either or." Usually good answers are "both and."

Common sense is good to have, for daily tasks, however many "common sense" viewpoints in our increasingly technical world, are wrong.

Knowledge is good to have for all tasks, and when coupled with common sense, allows you to make the best possible decision.

As John stated, we often look for absolutes, when the best solution may be a combination of different solutions. That's what education gives you, a broader, deeper understanding of issues.

regards, Rod.

Ben Rafael
01-20-2009, 2:35 PM
A couple of years ago an in-law of mine, who is way over educated, didn't understand why the philips screwdriver would not remove a flat head screw.

Karl Brogger
01-20-2009, 8:36 PM
I'm going to venture into the off topic. Is it just me, or do people have a serious lack of basic skills? They can do their jobs, maybe a hobby to some degree but thats it. Changing a tire is out of the question, much less actually making a repair. I think a good portion of the population is incapable of changing thier own oil. Now I'm guilty of this as well, but I grew up on a farm and was exposed to a wide variety of things, but I couldn't live off the land if something major were to cause a complete break down of society. Plague, bombing, revolution, take your pick. I couldn't butcher and process an animal effectively. I don't know how to make rope, all sorts of things I don't know. Not having the skills to be self sufficient is probably displays a sever lack of common sense. There I tied it in. :D

Bill Cunningham
01-20-2009, 10:17 PM
For years I was a 'skills' teacher in the Ontario College system.. A never ending source of amusement were the many 'academic' teachers that had been in school since the day they started kindergarten, and actually believed that they lived and functioned in the 'real' world.. :D

Ben Rafael
01-20-2009, 10:44 PM
For years I was a 'skills' teacher in the Ontario College system.. A never ending source of amusement were the many 'academic' teachers that had been in school since the day they started kindergarten, and actually believed that they lived and functioned in the 'real' world.. :D

Are you saying that they didn't know they were in Canada?:D

Pete Lamberty
01-21-2009, 12:11 PM
I think the common sense approach to this is to ask the questions. Which would make you a happier person? Which makes more money? Which one makes you whatever is best for you? Then I would chose that. :D

Jerome Hanby
01-21-2009, 12:52 PM
If by book smart, you mean the top of the class product from our Government schools, then common sense.

If book smart means actual factual knowledge at your finger tips and the ability to quickly locate any knowledge you don't have stored away in your cranium, then give me book smart and I'll fake the rest:D.

Jerome Hanby
01-21-2009, 12:54 PM
Book smarts can help you make a living. Common sense will help you keep living. For instance, you can have an IQ of 165 and have a PHD in everything, but it won't help when you tap a grizzly bear on the shoulder and offer half of your cupcake to him.

Does that mean it's common sense to give him the whole cupcake?

Jerome Hanby
01-21-2009, 12:59 PM
I'm going to venture into the off topic. Is it just me, or do people have a serious lack of basic skills? They can do their jobs, maybe a hobby to some degree but thats it. Changing a tire is out of the question, much less actually making a repair. I think a good portion of the population is incapable of changing thier own oil. Now I'm guilty of this as well, but I grew up on a farm and was exposed to a wide variety of things, but I couldn't live off the land if something major were to cause a complete break down of society. Plague, bombing, revolution, take your pick. I couldn't butcher and process an animal effectively. I don't know how to make rope, all sorts of things I don't know. Not having the skills to be self sufficient is probably displays a sever lack of common sense. There I tied it in. :D

I think Robert A. Heinlein phrased it best:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.