In your opinion...

[LoremIpsum]

Sometimes a kid has been so very bright that he never learned how to be organized.

Yep, both of mine. They could look at a math concept or physics formula once and remember it forever, but not be able to find their homework in their backpacks when it came time to turn in said homework. By the end of a semester, the collection of misc. papers in their backpacks was a 3-inch-thick brick of bent and frayed edges crumbled together; looked like something an archeologist might treasure.

[boysx3]

just ignore it--stupid is as stupid does.

[mspearl]

I don't think I was "lazy" in high school. More like very disorganized. I received a "D" one 9 weeks in 8th grade English (followed by many C's) because I didn't turn in homework assignments. I received a 5 on AP English and a perfect reading comp. score on the ACT. Why was I so disorganized? My home life was chaotic and I have never been diagnosed, but I think I might have ADD.

Just anecdotal but I have heard many stories like mine.

[wilsun007]

Disorganized can be attribute to laziness for the majority of people. Not everyone. But most.

[turbo93]

It's a lot harder to be smart, lazy, and give the impression you are always about to save the world so you can't be bothered with minutiae. I.e. Wally in Dilbert. That's where the smarts come in.

Or, as the old Soviet proverb went, "As long as they pretend to pay us, we pretend to work". In order to overachieve at work, I would need to work super uncompensated overtime hours to show my fealty to the kingdom. I prefer to work European hours (true to my birth country's standards), produce as much as my buddies who work an extra 2 hours a day unpaid, and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Microprocessors are pretty good in power management, dropping from two or four cores down to one and reducing clock speed to save energy. Humans should be like this, too. I can 'overachieve' and gain an extra 10%-15% in pay (which will likely evaporate if I move to a more expensive part of the US, or won't make a noticeable impact to my quality of life) or I can cruise along, do my normal work, and enjoy life.

[TheGFG]

In high school, a peer once came up to me with an annoyed attitude and said, "I could be as smart as you if I tried."

Lazy is lazy. I have a kid with disabilities who gets better grades than kids who are way smarter than she is. But she works really hard, and is motivated to overcome her deficiencies. Her main strategy is to keep plugging away for as long as it takes to learn the material. A lazy person takes a reason for academic difficulty and turns it into an excuse, thus causing the difficulty to perpetuate. A diligent person takes action to change his circumstances.

There are some home life situations which are so horrific and damaging that the above doesn't apply.

[ellemenope]

I would send such a person a copy of Carol Dweck's book, Mindset, and hope that he reads it and sees himself as having a "fixed mindset". (not good)


Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: Carol Dweck: 9780345472328: Amazon.com: Books

[NewHope33]

I absolutely L-O-V-E lazy and disorganized persons ... so long as they're working at my competitors!

Oh, wait a minute. I just found an online definition for "lazy and disorganized" ... it's called dead weight.

[Marsian]

Several of my children's teachers have told me that the most intelligent students in their classes are usually also the most disorganized students. They are not lazy. On the contrary, they are perfectly willing to work -- and work hard. However, they often can't find their homework assignments in their backpacks, or they leave assignments at home, or they can't do assignments at home because they misplace necessary handouts. Online access to classroom documents and homework assignments, and the ability to e-mail homework to teachers, usually helps these students immensely.

Laziness is a entirely different problem from disorganization. Disorganization needs a sympathetic plan with coping strategies. Laziness needs a "get over it and get working" approach.

[NewHope33]

We're perilously close to redefining "lazy." Here's the dictionary definition:

la·zy/ˈlāzē/ ... adjective: Characterized by lack of effort or activity.

I understand a Parent's motivation to discover WHY there is a lack of effort or activity in a child's life. It's entirely appropriate a Parent do that for a child that's not performing.

[TheGFG]

Very few people would consider themselves or their children "lazy." Others who have to work with these folks might not be so charitable in their assessment. I agree with NewHope33 that people merely redefine laziness or refuse (like today's teachers) to use the term because it still carries a moral judgment with it. After all, our grandparents would say that "idle hands are the devil's workshop." Back then, a lazy person was viewed as morally deficient.

What I hear a lot these days is parents excusing their children's lack of work ethic by saying, "He just doesn't have patience for homework he finds boring," or "She won't work hard in classes she doesn't like." Well duh, who's lazy about relaxing, having fun, or participating in pleasurable activities? We don't have to cajole our kids into doing what they enjoy, such as playing video games, talking on Facebook, or going to the amusement park. Nor do wives have to nag their husbands to watch the football game instead of fixing the sink. A lazy person doesn't diligently perform the tasks--whether they be interesting or tedious--that are required of him by the authorities in his life, eg. his God/moral code, his teachers, bosses, parents, etc.

[cobrat]

Smart, but lazy won't fly at my magnet high school nor in any professional workplace setting I've been in. Anyone who says he/she is smart, but lazy would instantly lose credibility.

In those environments, being lazy and trying to excuse it in such terms is a manifestation the individual concerned isn't smart by definition as doing so instantly destroys any cred he/she may have with his/her peers. Moreover, it's very likely to lead to "advice" to consider other school/career paths or in the case of most of those mentioned workplaces I've been in...rapid termination.

[Magnetron]

Guilty as charged. My mother probably still has some of my old report cards - "highest honors, a pleasure to have in class, is not working up to his abilities." My favorite was "Dean's List, continued on Academic Probation."

I nearly failed my senior year of HS for skipping so many classes. I took 6 years to finish engineering school. I couldn't get recommendations because not a single professor knew who I was.

My first patent sold for eight million dollars, most of which went to other people.

[straightshooter]

"My first patent sold for eight million dollars, most of which went to other people."

I would congratulate you but I'm too lazy to draft a heartfelt response.

[Hanna]

"Very few people would consider themselves or their children "lazy.""

In the general population, that might be so. In the CC demographic, this hasn't been my experience. Many parents who hire me view their child (almost always a son) as lazy, and they are tearing their hair out over it. I hear a lot of "He's so smart, he just won't apply himself!" and "He does just enough to get the B and then goes back to his games." and "He's a classic underachiever." Many of these kids don't dispute their parents' version of the story.