Smart or Knowledgeable?

I just saw a commercial that I consider misleading, at best. It was a spot for the Khan Academy. I am sure they are aboveboard but, still... the ad started with the statement that "no one is born smart." That is simply untrue. It is true that we are born without knowledge but not without intelligence. Now, the ad goes on to imply that they are talking about knowledge rather than intelligence but you would think they would be more clear about the matter. After all, they are in the education business. They are, however, non-profit... a good thing. And I suppose they are simply taking advantage of the general public's confusion over "intelligent" versus "smart."

But it irks me. I know the difference and I am sure you do also but millions of us confuse the two terms, even conflating them. Hence, we tend to associate education with intelligence. Trust me, just because someone went to college doesn't mean he is smart. He might be but he might be but he also could be pretty stupid.

I didn't complete college, for example, but that doesn't mean I am stupid or even below average in intelligence. It just means I don't have a degree.

Intelligence is the ability to learn and I agree with the Khan Academy that we can all learn (I don't believe we all can learn anything, however). It just bugs me that they do not take the opportunity to explain what they mean.