Donald Trump says he's smart, “real smart.” But is he? There are many measures of intelligence. We'll talk about two.

1) From the American College Dictionary: “smart, v.i. Shrewd or sharp, as a person in dealing with others, or as dealings, bargains, etc.”

How smart is Trump measured by this metric?

Trump wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a highly successful real estate investor. But the scion wanted the more lucrative, high-end market not found in his native Brooklyn but in Manhattan.

In 1971, bankrolled by the senior Trump with $1 million (in inflation-adjusted dollars $6 million) he relocated to Manhattan to play with the big boys.

Inflation, interest rates, and debt drove the real estate market into a slump but to Trump, it was a buyer's market. He began negotiating his first deal for one hundred acres of undeveloped riverfront property. He was 27 and on his way to his first million.

After 40 years of successful bargain hunting and deal making, he increased his initial $6 million in inflation-adjusted dollars by 1,700 times.

If we are to judge Trump by the dictionary's definition of smart, then Trump is as he said, “real smart.”

2) What about his intelligence quotient or IQ? This test compares a person's mental age (as measured by a standardized test) with his chronological age. An IQ between 90 and 110 is average; over 120 is superior.

Is Trump intelligent by this measure?

Trump has never taken an IQ test; however, Dr. Abraham Maslow, psychometric expert and noted psychologist, said, “Given Trump's SAT score and the usual requirements for admission to a top school like Wharton, I estimate that Mr. Trump has a 156 IQ at the minimum.”

An IQ in that range means that Trump is smarter than 99.99 percent of all the people on planet earth. Maslow adds, “I would not be surprised if Mr. Trump's IQ actually measures significantly higher than the minimum estimate.”

It is extremely improbable that any of those on the stage with him or in the professional punditocracy can come within an arm's length of his mental prowess.

But a high IQ is not a virtue, or a measure of ambition, and certainly not an index of character.

Hitler and Stalin, and that infamous pair, Leopold (IQ 210) and Loeb (IQ 165), were highly gifted. Geniuses? Yes. But virtuous? Anything but.

And IQ is not a measure of ambition. Christopher Langan (IQ 195) worked for years as a nightclub bouncer. William Sidis (IQ 250-300) never had a regular job. His principal interests were bus and train transfer tickets.

But what about character?

Dr. Maslow made a careful analysis of people with IQs similar to Trump's. By and large, he found these common character traits: they are loners or leaders, never joiners; are creative, independent, have a strong ethical sense. And they exhibit spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness. (Which GOP candidate might that be?)

Ann Coulter, that merciless conservative, wrote an interesting column. It was about Diogenes, the 5th century BC philosopher and social critic. He was known for carrying a lamp in the daytime looking for an honest man.

In Ann's version, Diogenes finally finds the long-sought honest man, but he is an unimposing man, shy of expectations and short of stature. Diogenes, crestfallen, exclaims in Ann's words, “I was hoping for a taller man.”

Well, we have found our honest man. His campaign is entirely self-funded. He can't be bought, compromised, influenced by lo$$yists, swayed by special interest groups, or corrupted by a donor-rich Republican Party.

Alas, he is at times vulgar, crass, self-aggrandizing, and tends to shoot from the hip rather than give thoughtful consideration to his words. And he doesn't seem to care tuppence about the media's cognoscenti.

He has angered and antagonized every faction of society and enamored just as many. He revels in being politically incorrect and is unorthodox to a fault.

Trump doesn't give canned speeches flanked by teleprompters. He takes out a sheet of paper with a few scribbled notes and gives an off-the-cuff talk for an hour or so.

And forget about those folksy town hall get-togethers. Trump has industrial-sized rallies for tens of thousands bursting with enthusiasm. The crowds are more like spectators at a sporting event---minus the beer and hot dogs---than an audience at a political meeting.

That's Trump. And that's the trouble. Trump is just too darn different. But he's our Diogenes' man. Even so, I was hoping for a taller man.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

What to do, what to do, what - to -do?   At the most recent public meeting of the Blue Ridge School District on 4 April 2016, the Blue Ridge School Board has stated it isn’t budging: “Final answer, Regis!”  The Blue Ridge Educators’ Association wants answers:  “Ten percent of what and where’s the purported surplus generated by past insurance premiums?”

Who’s caught in the middle of this dispute?   The tax-paying citizens of the district, who were surprisingly absent at the School Board meeting.  I’m not judging, since until this last meeting, I was not in attendance either; my excuse being that I’m an optimist.  “They’ll figure it out,” has been my mantra.

The reality is that they are not figuring it out; they being both the School Board and the Teachers (listed in alphabetical order, not by preference or culpability).  Not for lack of trying, though, but now it is time to try harder; and by “harder” I don’t mean employing the same tactics with more force or resolution.  For anything to change, something must be done differently.  For example, scientists replicate an experiment expecting to achieve the same outcome.  If they want a different result, variables are altered.

So, what’s going to be different?  How about more relevant information instead of rhetoric?  After this last meeting, I went home and did some research.  As stated by the School Board, trends for medical insurance premiums are predicted to increase.  This is due to a few factors, but mostly due to increasing prescription drug costs.  I also learned that medical insurance premiums have been down beginning in 2013 (source:  Wells Fargo).

With this information in mind, an argument for flat rate insurance premiums is that a contract entered into 2 years ago with a flat rate insurance premium would have left the third year in 2017 a wash in what the School Board would have had to pick in cost.  Other facts I discovered concern percentages of what employers and employees pay towards insurance premiums from the Bureau of Labor Statics, July 2015.  The average employee cost-share in the North East is 14% , or 22% if looking at averages by union representation.  Why aren’t we, the tax payers, hearing about these factors?  Teachers, what would be an acceptable compensation:  higher pay to pay higher insurance premiums?

To the School Board and the BREA, what are the issues:  benefits or salaries?  For my part, having raised a family in military housing and having access to military doctors, compensation is a total package.  As mentioned by the School Board on April 4, 2016, the military receives a 1% increase or less in pay in any given fiscal year, and I told the School Board, I have lived with those increases.   I remember a few years, though, when there wasn’t any increase outside of a rank increase (promotion), which does not occur annually.  It is surprising what can be done on so little.

The recent release of salary information by the School Board was educational, to say the least.  To put a few of those figures, especially the 30% increases, into perspective, they represent a teacher’s promotion by earning a Master’s degree; earned I must add, while teaching full time, not contractual increases under dispute now.    The other twenty percenters had salary increases due to continuing education by earning college credits, again earned while teaching full time. Please keep in mind that these insights are general.  To understand the numbers released by the School Board requires more space than I intend to take up in this publication.  Is the solution to salary increases a teacher’s continuing professional development and not a negotiated percentage with the district? Dare I put it out there, Merit Pay?  Or a combination of both?  Either way, I still maintain that what we pay our teachers compared to the average income of the residents should not be the gauge for deciding what we pay our educators. When individual yearly property taxes are taken into consideration, that amount wouldn’t get a student into a private educational institution for one year.

The reality is we have children to educate, no matter what the going salaries are compared to other areas or other benefits offered by other districts.  This is the Blue Ridge School District.  What is the solution?  What is the price for working in a rural area, among friends and family?  What is the price for being where you want to be?    Ultimately, what is the price for educating the future generation?   I’m all for a bargain, but not at our children’s educational expense, which includes what we pay our teachers and the time students lose in the classroom.  Put aside the rhetoric on both sides and present real solutions based upon the facts of the issue.

Sincerely,

Jaelynne Goff, New Milford Township