Jake is one of the characters who was developed the best.
In first season of TNG, it's established that six year old humans learn calculus. Jake, he's more a real human child. He's smart, but not a genius. He loves his father but wants to escape from his shadow. You know from the start he's not a TNG uber-child.
But, he's still a progressive human. Just a progressive human we can imagine a little better, with the same human instincts as everyone else.