When “stupid” is good
Female Science Professor wrote a great post today, prompted by an essay in Journal of Cell Science, about how stupid can be a good feeling. I found it really spot-on and insightful. “What are you talking about, Z?” I can hear you saying with outrage. “This blog is about being intelligent and using your brain! How can you agree with the idea that stupid is good?”
I don’t think it’s good to be stupid, so hold your horses. The problem is, it’s easy to feel stupid when you’re really not. Somehow, the popular conception of a smart person is someone who knows lots of things. That has an element of truth to it, but true intelligence is a lot more than being able to recall trivia. It’s important for scientists — and I dare say people in general — to get comfortable saying “I don’t understand this at all,” really confronting their lack of knowledge rather than staying in a safer place where all the answers are memorized or easy. Acknowledging your ignorance is really the smartest thing to do. If you never find yourself asking questions you don’t already know the answers to, you’ll never find out anything new. That seems pretty obvious in an abstract sense (it’s a big part of why Socrates is revered as a great thinker), but if you’re used to sailing through your classes and being the smartest kid in the room, the feeling of not getting it right away can be pretty jarring.
In order to do well in science, or in math, or in analytical aspects of any pursuit, it’s important to learn to appreciate a feeling of cluelessness, because it’s out of those moments that major learning really happens. That’s why, whenever I tutor or teach, I make an extra effort to help my students realize that they’re not the only ones who’ve had a hard time understanding the material. I like to say things like, “I thought this was really confusing the first time I heard about it, but I found it useful to…” or “That last part was pretty tricky, do you want me to go through it again?” That feeling when you’re struggling to understand can really turn people off to science, especially when they wonder how anyone could make a whole career out of studying stuff that’s not yet in a textbook (or a solution manual). That’s why students really need to hear that everyone makes mistakes, gets confused, or spends days blankly staring at a problem with no idea where to begin. Those experiences don’t mean you’re unsuited for science — they only become an issue if you respond by panicking and giving up.
I was surprised that FSP and some of the commenters on her blog were worried about sending that essay on to some friends/students/colleagues they knew who were feeling discouraged. They anticipate those people will read it as, “Yes, you’re stupid” rather than, “See? Everyone feels this way, and it’s a good thing.” I’ve doubted whether I was cut out for physics on plenty of occasions, and I’m sure if even at the worst of those times I was given an article called “The importance of stupidity in scientific research” I would find it uplifting rather than upsetting. Maybe it just needs to be framed with the right introduction and given at an opportune time. I do think it could do a world of good.
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