Academic skills are just a relatively small component of a whole nexus of traits that make up a well-rounded
human being - including such qualities as empathy, emotional intelligence,
imagination, kindness and curiosity.
I have met many highly intelligent people who were ill-functioning and dislikable human beings, and many
people, not the sharpest tools in the box, who nevertheless had dignity, integrity and self-respect.
Perhaps we would be more open to thinking about the subject if we valued such qualities more and the power of abstraction less.
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