BYU has a proud tradition of being a school full of intelligent people. Just getting into the school is an accomplishment. But ever since I arrived, I have noticed a trend. Girls seem to try to act less intelligent to attract attention. You shouldn’t try to be something you’re not; you should feel comfortable with yourself and not try to fit others’ expectations. Intelligence is beautiful.
It’s not attractive to be unintelligent. You don’t want to date someone who feels the need to be less intelligent to make you feel better, and it isn’t fun to be around someone who feels the need to change to fit the people they are with.
Being raised in the LDS Church, I have always been taught to never compromise who I am for anyone. Individuality is so incredibly important. Would you lose that to get someone to pay more attention to you or be more interested in a pseudo version of yourself? God made us who we are and what we are, so why be anything different?
Intelligence is a gift from God. D&C 93:36 states that the glory of God is intelligence. Those who are blessed with intelligence should take full advantage of it and develop that intelligence. We will retain whatever knowledge and intelligence we gain in this life into the next.
Boys carry some blame in this trend as well. Guys, we need to stop gratifying this behavior with attention. If a girl makes a silly mistake it’s ok to think it’s cute and laugh, but there is a point where we should no longer be granting them attention. We should positively reinforce girls for their intelligence. Let’s give them more attention and make them feel good about their academic accomplishments. Stop going for girls that make us feel superior and smarter, and instead go for girls that inspire us to excel.
Michael Perry
Meridian, Idaho
