Have you ever heard this one before? I know you have. I was raised on a farm and when city kids would visit, it was clear that they did not know very much. When I confronted them, they always claimed that they had "street smarts". The implication was that city kids were "cool" compared to farm kids. Like most people, I did not put much weight to their arguments, but now I have a new slant on "street smarts". That is the purpose of this blog.
I have blogged in the past that the status of the human race has radially changed in the past 50 or 100 years. Prior to that most people lived on farms or very small communities. Now many more people live in very large cities and very few live in rural areas. Based on the above, this means that we have a much larger percentage of our people who have "street smarts". Is this good? I am not so sure and here is why.
Exactly what is "street smarts" and how is it developed and learned? I think that you can see that this business of "street smarts" is more complex than you may have thought. It is clear that "street smarts" is not something that one leans in school. It is a form of empirical knowledge that is developed by a series of trial and error. It is then transferred to others by informal communication outside of schools or colleges. The more people you have who are engaged in the process of trial and error, the more "street smarts" that will be developed. Like wise, the more people there are and the more dense that they are, the more efficient that the transfer of "street smarts" is. This is why "street smarts" is the domain of cities and people who live in urban areas.
After this build up, let's take a look at some "street smarts". Because "street smarts" does not have any thing to do with schools, people who drop out of school can easily gain "street smarts". If someone tries something and it has a positive out come, that is empirical knowledge or "street smart". If you live in a city and come in contact with a lot of people, you can learn that piece of "street smarts" The incentive of most people is to get something for "nothing". It happens in both the rural and urban areas, but it is in the urban area where the process of developing "street smarts" and passing it on to other really operates.
The main objective of "street smarts" is to "game" the system for one's personal benefit. That is why we now have such a large percentage of our population actively gaming the system. Further, the gaming takes place mostly in cities and is not limited to the more educated people. As we get more and more urbanized, the social systems get more and more complex. This accelerates the process of "street smarts" and the growth of gaming. See how it works?
I have been watching how gaming the systems at all levels has grown over my life time and now I think that I have figured out why. The next big wave of "street smarts" and thus, gaming will be driven by the popular social media that has the affect of making our kids appear more urban. Now the kids in the rural areas can operate as if they lived in one of the largest cities in the world. You wait and see if I am not correct!!!
PS----Out kids today do not need to go to school because they can game the system using "street smarts" and get every thing they want without working.
