There has always been a division between people we consider “smart” and, frankly, “stupid.” We think these two words are about how well people do in school, their grades, and their rank. It makes sense when we’ve been taught about how important doing well in school was.

Because of this, a warped definition of intelligence has been spread. Students aren’t the only ones labeling themselves, and others, dumb. There are parents and teachers thinking that an “F” equals eternal failure. Something sinking, difficult to float up from.

But school shouldn’t be about getting the highest grades or doing better than everyone else. It should be about improving on the things you like and are interested in.

Unfortunately, school is nothing like this. While there are parts of the school day that aren’t bad, people are still forced to sit in 92 minute long classes learning about things they’ll forget in less than a year.

We were taught that the connotation of both “smart” and “stupid” has definite boundaries starting with programs like Gifted and Talented and 4.0 averages.

“Stupid” as a definition for a person, is unrealistic. Even though people have been using it for as long as the word was invented, no person is actually stupid. Not understanding material doesn’t mean you’re dumb, it just means you don’t understand it. Or you really hate it with a burning passion.

The problem is not that people are stupid. The problem is that people tend to judge others without knowing them. It happens frequently, but it’s wrong. There is a lot of pressure to have A’s in classes and high grade point averages, but there are a lot of smart people that don’t have good grades.

Everybody at North is brilliant, just because their transcript is not full of A’s doesn’t mean that they are any less smart or capable of achieving great things. They deserve respect, because they are going to accomplish great things in different ways.