“Smart” is a Terrible Thing to Call Someone
2 min readJun 6, 2020
I believe there is a hidden curse to being called smart. A computer science professor of mine shared an anecdote to try and encourage the class to ask more questions. As an undergraduate, she took a course taught by one of her intellectual heroes. On the first day of class, she asked something which her hero said was a “great question”. The professor explained she never asked another question for the rest of the…