How to fool smart people

The EduWonks host this week's Carnival of Education. I didn't see much I wanted to check out until right at the end: Paul's Tips offers The Easiest Way to Fool Smart People. (Hint: make them feel they're smart.) Apprentice, you need to read this, after all the discussions we've had about logic and reading critically.

Paul's Tips also has a discussion of why high-school style popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be--especially after you graduate. He says:

In the adult world what clothes you wear, what music you listen to, how cool your friends are, and so on are of almost no consequence. Things like ability and maturity are much more important.

Even the ultimate status-symbol in teenage life - beauty - isn't worth that much in the adult world. There are plenty of beautiful people out there working in poorly-paid, degrading jobs. And there are plenty of ugly people at the top of the status tree.

Hmmm...that may be true, but how many adults do you know who are actually living in the "adult world"? (Can you say Brangelina?)

Oh, okay (I read further down)--Paul caught that one too.

Of course, some people never really manage to escape high-school. The keep up the petty rivalries and irresponsibility and look to celebrity culture to replace the cool-kids they used to admire. They long to return to the simple world of teenage life. Such people rarely succeed in the adult world.

Well, maybe. (Can you say Brangelina?)