Dante's Inferno for Academia Ring Four

Lasciate ogne Speranza voi ch'intrate "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

Ring Four Smart-asses

When a soul is deemed Hell-worthy, they are judged in a cruel parody of the second coming of Christ. The Demon Minos wraps his slimy tongue around victims. The number of loops determines how low in to hell you go. For those with four tongue wraps, they land here.

Smart-asses are students that can wow you with a wealth of information on certian topics. One can always count on SA's to know how much engineers make in their first year on the job, which states offer the highest salaries, and what the forcasted growth for these jobs will be. However, these will undoubtedly be the students who cannot pass remedial math, english, or do well on a placement test. Can't do a research paper on a subject not directly involving or interesting them. They are obviously smart, but only when it suits them. They wish they could just skip ahead to These students are punished in hell by having several exaggerated features that happen in direct opposition to anything that would be helpful. This represents lofty goals, but poor work ethic. I saw students with big heads, but minature eyes, so they were smart, but could not see where they were walking. I saw students with huge bodies, but tiny legs. The ring was a ocean of fire with little islands jutting out of the lava. The interesting students were those who claimed they were smart, but did littlw with their gifts. for this, God punished them by having them stuck in the beaches of thorny vines near the ocean of fire. Their huge heads being too heavy to lift, they writhe in agony as the lava sears their skin. They are not smart enough to uses the vines to pull themselves to safety.

I spoke to one of these students. "Why don't you use the vines to pull yourself up?" The lost soul said

"In life I was very smart. I could do anything I wanted. All I had to do was Decide what I wanted to do. I laughed and played, and had a good time, but did not make an effort to see what i wanted to do. I sampled classes here and there, and took easy courses to pad my GPA. When it came down to the higher level courses, i began to struggle. I did not want to admit that i needed to work hard, or that I COULD HAVE GRADUATED, BUT THEY NEVER GAVE ME A CHANCE."

I remarked that the chances are your if you work for them. If he would overcome his fears and reach for the vines, he could get out. But he was too scared of reaching and achieving. He was content in just wasting away with each new tide.