I’m sick of intelligencism.

That’s what I’m calling bias against intelligent people.

I’m tired of intelligent people being negated, mocked, or characterized as clowns. The bias is so overwhelming I can’t ignore it.

Here’s where it gets ugly. The following societal practices perpetuate bias against intelligent people:

The Education System. School grades and curriculum hold back the intelligent student. Sure, you can create honors courses or give the smart kid busy-work, but by creating a timed stage (grades or levels) instead of a flowing system, smart kids get bored. Many get into trouble. Worse, the system employs people who are not as intelligent, and who can never appreciate the smart kid’s pain and boredom.

We restrict intelligent children from excelling. This whole concept of everyone gets a trophy has resulted in intelligent people having to suffer through classes with dolts. And the professor or teacher having to slow it down so everyone can keep up.

You’re shocked that I’m stating this. Why? I actually am saying — aloud — that some kids are more intelligent than others. That not everyone deserves an A or a scholarship. Oh, so it’s okay to protect the average or the special-needs child — but not okay to protect the gifted child? That’s bias, candy-corn! If it makes you want to cry, I’ll get you a puppy to cuddle.

In eighth grade, my science teacher asserted that the earth turning caused ocean waves — shaking the water like a snow globe. My friend and I insisted she was wrong. We got in trouble for questioning her. The school should have fired her on the spot. Not only was she unintelligent, she wasn’t knowledgeable about a damn thing.

Higher Education. Higher education is a similar mess. Between accepting anyone with a pulse for tuition dollars, and choosing PhDs over professionals, universities are breeding grounds for the average to believe they are above-average. Meanwhile, highly intelligent kids are turned away because they do not fit a socio-economic mold. Worse, with a focus on retention, universities favor grade inflation. My degree and GPA is worth the same as a student who couldn’t read but was awarded that satisfactory grade, so he or she would keep paying that tuition.

Years ago, I noticed one of my students was particularly creative and responsive. I discovered she was on academic probation after they had kicked her out of two other universities. I also discovered she had “failed” because she was bored, could not understand why she had to take certain subjects, and was rebellious. She was taking business courses because her advisor told her it was easier — she was, after all, only a bartender. I nurtured and encouraged her. She is now a highly paid attorney.

Intelligent people can spot another intelligent person from a mile away. We can also spot posers. Drop the mike.

Hiring the lesser person and not granting intelligent people leadership roles. Managers rarely hire anyone smarter. And, often, highly intelligent people have difficulty translating complex vision and strategy to those who cannot understand. So they struggle as leaders. They may suffer the curse of knowledge — finding it impossible to explain or simplify instructions. Or, likely, the biases listed herein causes the team members to resent, dislike, or attack the highly intelligent leader.

Steve Jobs: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

Between friends’ stories and personal experience, this bias cuts deeply. You know why Steve Jobs said what he did? Because, as a brilliant person, intelligence did not intimidate him.

Intelligent people are conceited and narcissistic. Wrong, sir, wrong. Sure, just like any other person, you can find a conceited or narcissistic genius — but being a genius does not mandate those qualities. In fact, it’s the averageperson who believes he or she is above-average. We even have a term for this truth: The Dunning-Kruger Effect. Highly intelligent people constantly feel as if they don’t know enough. We can see where we need more information or experience or skill. And we are humble enough to inquire and to learn. We are also highly aware of our own biases and foibles and work hard to change them.

On a side note to those intelligent people reading this article: Being intelligent, showing your intelligence, or telling others you are intelligent is not boastful, not conceited, not wrong. If more of us would John Galt, the world would be a better place.

We deem gifted people weird. Because you can’t read anything above a sixth-grade level, you feel it is necessary to mock me and my peers for enjoying academic journals, physics, and Shakespeare. I am shocked at how this woke society is asleep. How is it okay to pigeonhole a person who is bright? Yes, she plays concert piano, likes Manga, competes in local billiards matches, and collects Star Wars Lego’s. He makes axes in his garage, plays the trumpet, goes to Middle-age reenactments on the weekends, and is a computer engineer. Gifted, intelligent people need activities to keep from being bored. We like to try new things. And our curiosity is insatiable.

Another side note: I’m sure that you deem us weird because you don’t understand how we think, are scared out of your mind that we are plotting to take over the world, and intimidated that we are judging you. Keep reading.

Intelligence means unattractive. This is the worst. Like if someone is unattractive, we suspect he or she has an outstanding personality and/or must be intelligent. This just-world bias is pathetic and utter nonsense. Some people are born attractive and intelligent. Some people are unattractive and unintelligent. And none of that matters because attractiveness and intelligence have zero to do with character.

By the way, attractiveness is a subjective construct tied to time and culture. Please. Read a book.

Intelligent people think the same and arrive at the same conclusions. This is pernicious. My friend, Jo, and I are similarly intelligent — but she and I disagree about every political issue. Why? Although we are both logical, we value different outcomes. Intelligent people are not The Borg. We do not share values, interests, proclivities, or subjective preferences. Jo likes folk music; I like Grunge. We both love opera. She likes nonfiction journals; I love sci-fi and fantasy. She makes fun of me for watching Lord of the Rings several times a month. I mock her for being vegan. Intelligent people are open-minded and actually seek opposing viewpoints.

We are judging or watching you. We’re not. Being intelligent means I have other things to do and am more concerned about self-improvement than what you’re up to. However, many highly intelligent people are hypersensitive to others’ experiences. Often, we prefer our own company because others’ emotions and energies are too much to handle all the time. This leads to the perception that we are loners or shy.

We’re not all shy. We just prefer the company of equals. Keep your TikTok and reality television over there, thank you very much. You can also keep your melodrama and histrionics in your corner.

Intelligent people are all good at _____. People usually say math. But it’s simply not true. We could be good at math. If we want. Or maybe we’re great at wood carving. Not every intelligent person is good at math. Or science. Or music. Or art.

One of the most brilliant men I know has dyslexia struggles to read. School labeled him “stupid” as a child and he read dictionaries to learn to read. The education system ignored him. Another man I know has an off-the-chart IQ but doesn’t like math or physics — he loves poetry and linguistics. Because he was also good at sports, teachers deemed him a “dummy.”

I think Tom Brady can easily pick up any academic subject and throw a football through a person’s ribs. (I’d like to see that. Just saying.)

Intelligence crosses interests. Some of us not only like sports but also are great at sports! By the way, you are consistently losing in your fantasy league because the genius who understands football, statistics, and probability is kicking your ass.

You thought we were all overweight with thick glasses? Wow! That’s not bias.(That’s called sarcasm.) The only things all intelligent people are good at are knowledge acquisition and strategizing.

Intelligent people are mean, abrupt, rude, introverted, and probably evil. Those are characteristics that could apply to anyone. While it is true that, universally, villains are geniuses, smart people are just as likely to have negative qualities as average or unintelligent people. We are highly logical and may seem blunt or cold. We have a low tolerance for histrionics and wallowing (see above). We are solution-oriented. We can also become hyper-focused and don’t mean to ignore others. It is impossible for us to help it. The fact is intelligent people are independent and are unlikely to be submissive.

So you’d better be offering something of value and sense or I will not obey. I might smile and nod.

Noam Chomsky says that “The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don’t know how to be submissive, and so on — because they’re dysfunctional to the institutions.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF NURTURE

Intelligence can be nurtured or negated by a person’s environment.

What happens when an intelligent child is born into a community that negates him? He wants to study and is mocked. He wants to read or program a computer and is punished for being lazy. He wants a chess set, telescope or guitar and mom and dad can’t afford it. Or she wants a piano or a microscope. Nope. She has never traveled or been exposed to other cultures or languages. She wants to go to college, but is unnurtured. Pretty girls don’t waste time with books!!

Whether economic or societal, the answer is no. Those children will slowly lose sharpness — not capability. That is the manner in which the environment affects intelligence.

The kid who would cure cancer is being bullied and doesn’t want to be a dork like that character on television. So, he fails biology. The next Jeff Bezos is running a profitable gang because he’s bored and ignored. The kid who could have created hyper-drive to get us into deep space, has never been to a museum. The kid who could solve world hunger just got called ugly and stops speaking up.

This biased societal environment ensures we will have fewer and fewer Mozarts. And more and more reality television, TikTok stars. So, when you fail to label and celebrate the intelligent, when you mock and degrade us, you commit intelligentism and sentence humanity to extinction.

Well done, earthlings. Well done.