Before I start I want to point out there are very many different ways of looking at the SC and what it does. What follows are based on my personal views, but since we’re talking about something not entirely tangible, there are many other credible answers.
The SC isn’t exactly its own seperate entitiy, it is a part of you. It is what controls your automatic functions as well as creating dreams. Try to look at it as a computer operating system. It runs programs, checks on the hardware to look for errors and ensures everything runs the way it is supposed to. The only time it will really work independently is if it feels something might threaten the unit as a whole (again with the computer example, using anti-virus software to delete a file that might be dangerous).
By talking to it in dreams, you can reinforce different intentions. You can tell it that you want to be smarter, but that alone won’t do the trick. If you sit on the couch all say, you’re not gonna learn anything. You can tell it to remind you that you are dreaming, but you’ll still probably want to reinforce it with autosuggestion.
Your conscious mind and subconscious mind are a part of a whole. It’s the two working together that can make the change. The conscious decides what needs to be done, and the subconscious helps get it done. It’s up to you to send the right signals and to make the choice to become smarter and to become lucid more.
You should read these two articles by BenDrumming: