Being street smart is common sense or intelligent?

You reminded me about a personal technical experience. I visited a sugar mill in the beginning of my career as sales engineer for a big welding technology company and dealt with their engineers. However I generally found that their welders were better equipped with ideas due to their on job experience than the engineers. The welders asked so typical questions at times which made me think twice before answering. One example- one welder asked "why the smoke is green when using one of your electrodes?" Trust me I had to consult one of my company's engineers to get the proper information about the flux used on that special electrode. So, it's all about curiosity and willingness to solve the problem that improves creativity and willingness to work.    

suni51 wrote:

You reminded me about a personal technical experience. I visited a sugar mill in the beginning of my career as sales engineer for a big welding technology company and dealt with their engineers. However I generally found that their welders were better equipped with ideas due to their on job experience than the engineers. The welders asked so typical questions at times which made me think twice before answering. One example- one welder asked "why the smoke is green when using one of your electrodes?" Trust me I had to consult one of my company's engineers to get the proper information about the flux used on that special electrode. So, it's all about curiosity and willingness to solve the problem that improves creativity and willingness to work.    

But isn't curiosity and willingness to look beyond one's sphere of work also a mark of intelligence?

suni51 wrote:

You reminded me about a personal technical experience. I visited a sugar mill in the beginning of my career as sales engineer for a big welding technology company and dealt with their engineers. However I generally found that their welders were better equipped with ideas due to their on job experience than the engineers. The welders asked so typical questions at times which made me think twice before answering. One example- one welder asked "why the smoke is green when using one of your electrodes?" Trust me I had to consult one of my company's engineers to get the proper information about the flux used on that special electrode. So, it's all about curiosity and willingness to solve the problem that improves creativity and willingness to work.    

But isn't curiosity and willingness to look beyond one's sphere of work also a mark of intelligence?

arjun sai wrote:

If a person is smart and knows how to fool others can probably earn much more than a person who used to excel in studies. I have seen people who are manipulative in nature get much more better opportunities in corporate sector.

You can fool.some of the people some of the time but cannot fool all the people, all the time. Manipulation has its limits ..

usha manohar wrote:

arjun sai wrote:

If a person is smart and knows how to fool others can probably earn much more than a person who used to excel in studies. I have seen people who are manipulative in nature get much more better opportunities in corporate sector.

You can fool.some of the people some of the time but cannot fool all the people, all the time. Manipulation has its limits ..

I agree with this statement. Manipulation might work 70% of times but finally it is knowledge which comes to rescue. Being more knowledgeable is any day. A street smart person is one who has knowledge combined with experience of day to day difficulties will be any day more successful then a person who has just bookish knowledge. Being steet-smart has become very important in today's world rather then just gathering bookish knowledge.

Education is not enough. Experience is also important. If we go to village we will find their many people who are much expert in their fields than a qualified person.

I guess a combination of mental superiority , experience and the abity to forsee and evaluate before acting would make sure that a person gets the best advantage. We keep trying to achieve this all our life but there are a few exceptional people who really stand out with their insight and capability to assess a situation accurately. 

Academic excellence and common sense ..they both need intelligence. Yes I would say it is the need of life skill which is more important in most of the circumstances than just mere academic degrees. 

In present education system education don't teach about practical life. With academic degree one must have some practical knowledge.