History Main / BookDumb

* Aximili from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' is an Andalite military cadet, a member of a super-advanced alien species, with all the complete-education and training that implies, and all the vastly-superior-to-human-science knowledge that comes with it - and his actions throughout the series show that he's quite intelligent and quick-thinking as well. He also conveniently knows very little about a great many plot points and other miscellaneous details that he ''should'' reasonably be expected to know by the standards of his people, because while he has completed his education, he spent most of that education staring at the attractive female Andalites in adjacent learning cubicles. Some things, it would seem, are universal

* CraigFerguson dropped out of high school at age 16 and since then has had no formal education. He considers himself an autodidact, having read for pleasure pretty much everything the rest of us are forced to read in school. He is thus incredibly well-read and extremely literate and articulate. He now has [[TheLateLateShow his own show]], a Peabody Award, and two well-received books to his credit. Keep in mind that in the British educational system, leaving school at 16 is equivalent to graduating high school in the U.S. Only those students seeking to move onto university (U.S.: "college") go to school beyond the age of 16, as they study up for their A-levels (exams intended to be used for entry into university).

* Charles Gunn from the ''Buffy'' spinoff ''Series/{{Angel}}'' is far from well-read due to growing up on the streets but has a first-rate intellect, though he gets self-deprecating about being the "dumb muscle" in the group in later seasons. In Season Five, this is subverted when [[spoiler:he becomes the group's legal expert after getting a mental download of a comprehensive knowledge of the law, along with some RequiredSecondaryPowers like golf, foreign languages and GilbertAndSullivan]].

* AdolfHitler is an example. He was a notoriously bad student, yet rose to seize control of a country and made some considerable headway towards conquering the entire world. As time went on, however, poor decisions and generally degrading sanity caught up with him.

Emperor Akbar, of the Mughal dynasty and the 16th Century India, is known as one of the greatest and most respected rulers that India ever had for several reasons: developing a comprehensive, cohesive and standardized taxation system across India, developing a comprehensive military and bureaucratic organization for his empire, patronage of wit and art and music, love for philosophy and developing his own school of thought, for coopting Hindu elites into his regime (thereby ensuring their loyalty to his dynasty) and for fostering a culture of tolerance and co-existence between Hindus and Muslims (thereby ensuring a degree of social stability). All these things portray a clever, wise and hard working bookish intellectual, isn't that so? Well he was known to be an illiterate.

Emperor Akbar, of the Mughal dynasty and the 16th Century India, is known as one of the greatest and most respected rulers that India ever had for several reasons: developing a comprehensive, cohesive and standardized taxation system across India, developing a comprehensive military and bureaucratic organization for his empire, patronage of wit and art and music, love for philosophy and developing his own school of thought, for coopting Hindu elites into his regime (thereby ensuring their loyalty to his dynasty) and for fostering a culture of tolerance and co-existence between Hindus and Muslims (thereby ensuring a degree of social stability).
All these things portray a clever, wise and hard working bookish intellectual, isn't that so? Well he was known to be an illiterate.

** However, it's been subverted once or twice, explaning why he didn't just do the obvious thing in a given situation (IE: Wishing a ghost who's playing genie into her containment) and instead spends the episode doing as he is wont to do.

* Phillip J. Fry from ''{{Futurama}}'' is frequently portrayed as a lazy, [[ManChild childish]] {{slacker}} who is impulsive to the ''n''th degree[[hottip:*:(has a soda addiction that nearly cost him his (best) (girl)friend's life (It Makes Sense In Context) and caused him to suffer near-lethal radiation poisoning, and on a trivia show blurted out the answer before any others were listed)]]. In one episode, he attends Mars University, ''just so he can drop out''. He has [[SociallyAwkwardHero minimal social skills]] and has difficulty talking to people ([[CannotTalkToWomen including women]]). And despite being in a [[FishOutOfTemporalWater situation where not understanding his current environment makes sense]], it's made pretty clear that he doesn't have much more knowledge regarding anything else outside of a small sector of {{nerd}}y interests. Despite all of this, he does manage to be quite clever at times, as well as pull off some remarkable feats and moments of clarity when given the right motivation.

* Penny from the BigBangTheory is this having dropped out of community college and having trouble learning scholastic topics. This contrasts with the rest of the characters who all work in different scientific fields.
* Several of the street dealers from TheWire, while having received partial high school education at most, are nonetheless able to demonstrate a respectable amount of intelligence, particularly Bodie, who gets out of getting charged when [[spoiler: Hamsterdam is shut down]] by correctly identifying his situation as entrapment (or "contrapment", to use his exact phrasing).

* Todd Daring from ''TheReplacements'' is shown to be brilliant schemer, but seems to have an aversion to anything to do with schoolwork. At his most extreme, he replaces his German teacher with someone who ''only'' speaks German so his father cannot find out how badly he his doing.

* ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'': Calvin's still as Book Dumb at his comic counterpart. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]:

----

Kon, as shown in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'' episode "Math of Kon" as he failed six years worth of math.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' features Yusuke, who is ''incredibly'' Book Dumb. He once got a ''twelve'' (yes, twelve out of 100) on a test. However, on the battlefield, he's a fairly competent strategist, and in one episode, he correctly applies the principle of light reflection to defeat Hiei. There's also Kuwabara, who starts out Book Dumb (he got a ''seven'' on that same test; Yusuke was bragging that he was smarter), and, as part of CharacterDevelopment, studies hard and gets into a prestigious high school.

* In ''Series/PrincessReturningPearl'', Xiao Yan Zi has never been formally educated, and when book-learning is forced on her at eighteen, she finds it extremely difficult, though she is by no means unintelligent. Her struggle with learning literature is a major subplot in the series.

* Manolito from ''{{Mafalda}}'' and, to a lesser extent, Mafalda herself (Her report on "the British Invasion" was [[TheBritishInvasion a drawing of hippie fans of The Beatles]]). Felipe is absent-minded during lectures, but he never seems to fail a test.

----

* In ''Series/PrincessReturningPearl'', Xiao Yan Zi has never been formally educated, and when book-learning is forced on her at eighteen, she finds it extremely difficult, though she is by now means unintelligent. Her struggle with learning literature is a major subplot in the series.

* ''DennisTheMenaceUK'' is an example of this being taken to a ridiculous degree. In the comics these days, Dennis even has a ''futuristic car that he designed himself'', with protective armour and water cannons, and yet is shown to be completely (and cheerfully) lost at school.

* On ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Rainbow Dash regularly expresses a strong jock attitude, often misunderstanding complicated words ("Tenacity?" "Gesundheit.") and (initially) fears the stigma of being known as an "egghead" who reads books, but she is a capable weather manager (which fans posit would require extensive academic training). Applejack is down-to-earth and fairly simpleminded (she refers to french as "speakin' in fancy") but has enough business sense to run her farm without any economic problems.

* The late stand-up comedian MitchHedberg. During an interview, he revealed that he lost interest in being book smart around 10th grade and barely graduated with a high school diploma. He also [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] it a bit with this great one-liner:
-> ''I never went to college, but if I did, I would've taken all my tests in a restaurant because the customer is always right.''
* QuentinTarantino never finished high school but has been tested with having a genius-level IQ and has an encyclopedic knowledge of film. He also admitted in an interview that he loved his history classes.
* ChristopherTitus brings up that he barely finished high school and that he still had a substandard education at "[[RunningGag California public schools]]." While not academically intelligent, his stand-up routine brings up a great deal of fantastic insights into human interaction and the importance of self-awareness. In his podcast he also points out that his close friend (and fellow podcast member) Tommy Primo was actually put into special ed only because he was too hyperactive to pay attention and was a troublemaker, one time even [[TryAndFollow jumping from the second story of the school to escape]] some teachers. Tommy eventually became a stuntman (among others, doing work on ''{{Titus}}'') and was asked back to the school for a career fair.
* RingoStarr was notoriously uneducated due to years spent in the hospital as a child, but he was far from unintelligent. Besides being an excellent drummer, he had a very quick wit even for a [[Music/TheBeatles Beatle]].

* Goku from ''Manga/DragonBall'' is an extremely simple-minded person who never went to school, but shows brilliance when it comes to training and fighting.

** One doesn't need to be told that Harry Potter becomes a great wizard, but they do need to be reminded that he's only this great when in danger. He even flat out says this in the fifth book. Even J.K. Rowling states that while Harry does become a gifted wizard, he was pretty much comparable to Ron as [[TheDitz]], especially when one remembers how out of the trio, Harry was the only one to never use a single spell in the first book. Even though he just learned of Hogwarts existence a day before attending, he was certainly given the chance to learn at least one spell throughout the school year, especially given the circumstances. Even Ron learned two spells, and successfully performed one.

** They also only show Lan/Netto being below average because of distraction. If he fails homework it's because he didn't do it, not because he didn't understand it. He fails in class because he fell asleep or was daydreaming, not because he didn't understand the subject. He also is shown to listen to information given as if he was intrested, possibly meaning that he just doesn't like the average subjects, but with new or different subjects he is interested.

** Keigo, however, is a straight example. He takes great pride in having low grades and being an idiot. [[spoiler: However, when push comes to shove, he's the GenreSavvy ActionSurvivor who was the only one in his group to think to run while Aizen and Gin were talking. Not to mention, his immediately attempting to attack Aizen with a stolen zanpaku-tou, remembering something he had seen nearly a hundred chapters ago. Sure, he was interrupted before he could actually go through with it, but it's the thought that counts.]]

-->--'''Calvin''', ''CalvinAndHobbes''

BookDumb female characters are quite common in {{Anime}} and {{Manga}} but in Western media this trope tends to skew heavily male, possibly because GirlsNeedRoleModels. The popularity of the UptownGirl trope might also be a factor.

** Then there's Orihime, who, despite her [[CloudCuckooLander space-case]] tendencies, manages to get at least 3rd in their entire grade.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' features Yusuke, who is ''incredibly'' BookDumb. He once got a ''twelve'' (yes, twelve out of 100) on a test. However, on the battlefield, he's a fairly competent strategist, and in one episode, he correctly applies the principle of light reflection to defeat Hiei. There's also Kuwabara, who starts out BookDumb (he got a ''seven'' on that same test; Yusuke was bragging that he was smarter), and, as part of CharacterDevelopment, studies hard and gets into a prestigious high school.

* [[StepfordSmiler Skylar]] in ''Literature/GivesLight'' is witty and perceptive, but says he doesn't perform well in school. It's not clear whether he's legitimately BookDumb or just plain lazy, as he also claims to hate reading books and never finishes them.

* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'''s protagonist, Sheriff Jack Carter, has an average IQ in a town full of [[TheSmartGuy supergeniuses]]. This makes him the local BookDumb, but his ''street'' smarts, not shared by the majority of [[GeniusDitz brainiacs]] in town, end up saving the day and his job security at least once an episode.

* Matt Parkman on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', although he's no genius, is streetwise enough to have been a cop and cunning enough to have ''literally'' thought his way through some nasty situations. He's also dyslexic, hence BookDumb through no fault of his own.
* Reese of ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'' was shown, more often than not, to be an ingenious planner - Malcolm himself [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade on it]] by saying:

* Kelly Bundy from ''MarriedWithChildren'' began the series as a snarky, BookDumb teenage girl before [[{{Flanderization}} turning into]] TheBrainlessBeauty essentially overnight.

* The writers of ''Series/TheOC'' seemed unsure whether Summer Roberts was merely BookDumb or TheDitz. She seems to vary with different episodes, and at least one episode hinted she was more a SeeminglyProfoundFool ("what is a Jihad?").

* Luke, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' goes well beyond BookDumb to not knowing nearly anything, being completely ignorant about his own world or the way people live. While he is observant and resourceful and clearly fairly intelligent, having [[GameplayGuidedAmnesia lost all his childhood memories]] coupled with his belligerent attitude makes it difficult to teach him anything. Of course, this functions as a convenient way for the other characters to [[MrExposition explain even the most basic common knowledge about the game world to the player.]]

* In ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' since Bob starts out as officially the world's most average man, he's not really ''dumb,'' but since the rest of main cast (Jean's a scientist, Molly's a prodigy, and Voluptua's a 300-year old alien) are much brighter and more well-educated than average, he tends to come off looking BookDumb by comparison.

* Solange of the WhateleyUniverse is cunning, smart enough to see how to apply her father's business practices to ruling her [[SuperheroSchool high school]], but BookDumb because she's already a billionaire heiress who is never going to have to work for a living. There's nothing any teacher has to tell her that she sees any value in learning. Too much work.

* While the title character of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' is shown to be anything but BookDumb and able to maintain A-average grade (but not at TeenGenius levels mind you), Ron is yet another example of the typical C-student male protagonist. Yet Ron regularly assists in saving the world, and while evil was the best villain in the series, invented several doomsday devices. Also built one when kidnapped by Drakken using stuff lying around, and gave Senior Senior Senior the ideas to build traps.
* Subverted in the last episode of ''{{Fillmore}}'', where the main suspect in the poisoning of a class tarantula seems to be a BookDumb kid who was often kept behind after class to look after it. [[spoiler:The character's BigSecret is that, against his image, he's an A student, and was looking after the tarantula because he wanted to.]]

** [[MakingASplash Irma Lair]] also counts, saying she "lives in the now" and doesn't worry about her grades. Both are very good examples that BookDumb doesn't mean incompetent as they display intelligence and creativity at their Guardian positions; one notable example is Will [[spoiler: using [[TeleportersAndTransporters Teletransportation]] to save herself and a group of her allies]], a feat that requires ''ten years'' of training to do safely. And this was her ''first'' time attempting it. Of course she did freak out when it seemed [[spoiler: she teleported them into a wall.]] Naturally, [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld waking up, going to school and saving the world]] causes grade loss on its own.

* An episode of ''OzzyAndDrix'' (the spinoff show of the movie ''OsmosisJones'') emphasized the importance of book learning in a painfully {{Anvilicious}} way. After BookDumb Osmosis spends the entire episode berating Drix for not having any street smarts to offset his prodigious book smarts, it is ultimately Drix's book smarts that save the day. Ozzy, realizing [[ResetButton for the last thirty seconds of the episode]] that book learning can sometimes go a long way, asks Drix to educate him. Drix obliges by quoting well known sciency things ("Well, for example, [[EEqualsMCHammer E=MC2]]") without offering anything resembling context, to which Ozzy reacts with obnoxiously exaggerated excitement.

* ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'': Alex Russo regularly fails exams, but is the craftiest and most competent character in the series.