[Blasterlord2]

So call Smart nowadays is very complex.
This is why people like to compare, Street Smart vs " bookworm " so call smart.

SG education System actually is memorise and memorise Come Exam.
Why many flop due to distraction social life, friends. etc

These bookworm don't have much social life. Don't believe me? go dare to ask any current MP, minister what and how their childhood like. Yes they have but not much like you and me average joe out there. Some of them are born with gold spoon , family background already link there. Just like some Minister, MP their father is Ex PAP MP too etc top civil servants.

LKY days , give high salary to curb corruption. Yes workable BUT it is not workable now. Look , under LHL, despite all top civil servant been highly pay down to Director in Ministries, Town council manager. Look refresh back how many corruption case involve ex civil servants.  EPIC PM lee GRC , Ex Town council manager into corruption somemore. Remember? been sentence? He still got the cheek wanna appeal but of course never win in the end.

look recently LTA Director. too.

Do their pay so low? NOPE, is very Reasonable NOT bad and high as Civil servants.
What more they want to ask for ? Work life balance, welfare as civil servants, beside wages reasonable there.
EVEN the world economics down, they WILL never face any retrenchment so call , cut man power Unlike in Private sector.

Just look recently , How many private sector give Bonus ? So far Seng Song due to profit from Covi19 as people hoarding foods etc.
and some if managed to earn.

Whereas most companies in private sector even big corporation cut man power, retrenchment.
Whereas Civil servant just got their usual July Mid year bonus, Soon Year end coming.

Now I shall say Human Greed is NO limit now. You give a person millions, he/she don't even feel enough.

Now people are hungry for more , Billions, Trillions.

I can answer you with a high degree of confidence that many of the clever ones are not just good at memorizing but are truly more intelligent than others. 

If you also believe that they're merely bookworms then that's a wrong understanding as well. Many of them excelled in sports and other activities.

Of course, I don't deny that there're many others who do well just on the account of being more studious than others but we cannot generalize.

Since you talked about the LTA director, I knew him quite well, going back to more than 20 years ago. He was not a scholar and don't stand out as being particularly intelligent. But he worked hard and exudes a charm, being a sports man with a 6-pack body and suave looks. The thing that did him in is his gambling habit.