I'm going to go ahead and disagree with all of you (or atleast the posts I've read).
Reese is stupid!
Smartness refers to academics, maybe not rote book learning, but academics none the less (being able to make connections and draw conclusions). He is very creative and is a very sensitive person, but that says nothing about his intelligence. They're different qualities and different words - they're not interchangable.
As to the few instances where Reese has shown academic skill i.e. Reese's Apartment and Busey's Take a Hostage: Reese is in high school, and not only that, in his Junior and Senior year. By this time, there would be no one class standard he has to keep up with. With his record, he is no doubt taking the lowest level of courses possible. So, his A doesn't mean he did well, it means he did well by his standards.
Also, we assume the family isn't in a particularly good school district (considering their income) and lower level courses sometimes don't even require any kind of intelligence (I know, I've tutored!
). You just have to keep up with the homework and pay attention.
Even in these eps, he hasn't shown any intelligence, just dedication, like in Buseys Take a Hostage, when he tries to write down all the numbers, or the examples Amigo22 mentioned (hmm...I guess that's 1 post I don't disagree with
).
@remoss85 He didn't chose not to do his laundry, he thought that's how things worked. He asked Hal and Lois how they were able to keep up with all the expenses. And after all those years of watching TV, and just being alive in general, he should know how credit works. Ignorance to that level is stupidity. Besides, I don't think he got "free credit card money to throw around." I assume Lois and Hal had to pay it off and return the stuff.
In Tutoring Reese, Malcolm spends a long time teaching him simple stuff, and they still don't think he can get a B. This is one instance where dedication did not help him.
@yardgames I do kinda agree with you, but don't put as positive a spin on it. I think Reese is stuck in childhood not because the adult world is PHONY, but rather because he doesn't comprehend things beyond the simple good and bad, black and white.