My kids often challenge me on an intellectual front, and although entertaining I grow weary of trying to explain how they have a similar IQ to the chair they can’t seem to sit in correctly. They are constantly trying to school me on philosophy, science, language, and especially parenting. While I’m still learning how to parent, I can know for certain that my kids know close to nothing about it. And I’m sure some progressives out there would like to say that kids are innately geniuses and we should let them find their own way. Well, I’m not too sorry to say that kids have fooled you with a veil of confidence and they are far from competent.
This concept doesn’t stop at children. It applies to all demographics, intelligence levels, and subject matter. It is called the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Without going into much detail two scientists studied and tested this effect and it is visualized in the graphic below.
As you can see, the most confident are the least competent. This has helped alleviate some of the guilt I feel for my inherent ageism for the younger generations. What has also helped is how I can remember being absolutely full of crap when I was younger and how the older generation had no idea.
The takeaway from this “Effect” is: Don’t be fooled by your kids they are far dumber than you, they just have more energy; Don’t go to the hospital in July, that is when the new residents begin; be leary of those who are overconfident, their competency can easily be tested with educated questions; and if you can’t make it-fake it, apparently everyone else is.