There are many educational psychologists today who, along with giving us a broader definition of what intelligence actually means, are trying to ascertain how we measure it. Bottle it if you like. Progress in this field has outlined for us that it is actually a broad area, a broad term, unlike our more traditional understanding of what it meant in the past i.e. rote learning etc.
There is, as any teacher will tell you, room for rote learning. Plenty of room in fact. The basics are paramount to building foundations. However, what has changed is the recognition that these foundations can hold weighty forms of various types of intelligences, not just numerical or written forms: Artistic and emotional intelligences, to name but two, are now considered as truly valuable intelligences in a multitude of disciplines.
A simple example of how invaluable such measurements and recognition of such intelligences are is in our new testing procedures for potential medical students. Before you just needed to be a professional 'roter' and wealthy enough to obtain as many grinds as possible while you sat the Leaving Cert. (Irish Final Secondary School Exams) 2 or 3 times. Matriculation exams also. The question of whether you were a compassionate person, a discerning person, a people person was never even asked. How you would feel telling a mother that their child had died was not the concern of the medical establishment after all. Men and women of stone was the requirement of the day. It was apparently a good thing to leave your emotions at home. It was professional!
People are wiser now in every sense of the word. Thankfully through the work of psychology we no longer, or at least should no longer tolerate dispassionate, clinical, pompous fools. It should be an honour to heal the sick. It should never be the other way round where people feel obliged to worship them, the medical profession, thankful that they have 'been seen' at the altar of their intelligences.
The reality is, we should never worship intelligence. It is a subtle form of idolatry; by giving your power away to this false god you run the risk of believing that you are inferior to others. On the other hand you may believe mistakenly that it is the only thing that is of value in your life- so in other words, people's perceptions of you still matter! We should never envy intelligence also. People who have worked and strive hard to discover methods to improve their intelligence (s) should be credited and rewarded. As the various types of intelligences in all their glory lead to one path in my opinion: God.
People who believe this in some shape or form (possibly without even knowing it) also change lives. Or put simply, people who use their gifts and talents for the benefit and joy of others and who are not arrogant have the potential to change things, people, and even society. I'll give you an example:
When in 1st or 2nd year at school I came home one day to notice the poet Brendan Kenneally on Live at 3 with Thelma Mansfield. (Remember that?) I had no idea who he was and had no idea who I was for that matter. Ironically, I teach his poetry now. At the time I quietly liked poetry at school and secretly fancied the idea of maybe being a teacher or a writer. However, that was just for intelligent people! As there wasn't a strong tradition to go to college, let alone finish out school at home, I saw intelligence as other worldly. I felt comfortable believing it was a genetic thing although I hadn't even heard of Darwin, evolution or genes at this stage. I obviously had experienced or even subjected myself to social Darwinism before I even knew him or it. (Social Darwinism in a nutshell being the exploitation and manipulation of Darwin's theory so as to dis empower others for ones own intellectual, political but mainly financial interests over the vulnerable in society and our world.).
When asked what his favourite past time was, Kenneally answered that it was looking up the meaning of words in a dictionary. Bang. My world changed. Here was professor Kenneally, lecturer of English Literature at Trinity College, regular on Ireland's famous chat show The Late Late Show, and he needed a BLOODY DICTIONARY. Of course he did! How in God's name was he going to learn the meaning of new words otherwise. Were birds going to drop them into his ears while he was asleep with the hope that the meaning or reference would in some way penetrate his sub- conscious while he snored? It sounds so obvious now, stupid in fact, but I believed intelligent people were...............Intelligent. Always. As opposed to learners. However, this eureka moment was to leave a lasting impression on me. I realised that for too long I had observed intelligence socially and made the inaccurate inference that genes preferred the rich and powerful. I now know that sperm and ovum's don't really know what street they're on.
While it is true that a persons background will have a dramatic impact on their education due to the attitude and effort given by the child's parents and community along with other socio/ economic restraints, educators and psychologists should never forget that the potential and gifts a child has is assured. In other words, one or two or three of those seven recognised and established intelligences are in there somewhere.The child just has to believe it. But more importantly educators along with society has to believe it and recognise it too. They as adults can help the child find these gifts. And make no mistake about it intelligence is a gift.
Like all gifts they may be used or neglected, abused or shared. However, it must be a given that true fulfillment stems from discovering and embracing the intellectual genetic make-up of who you truly are. We are all genetic types, personality types etc. emerging as we do from thousands of years of evolution in a complex yet inclusive beauty. It is not good enough therefore, in my opinion, for educators or society to talk about children or communities as the 'disavantaged'.
As creations of God we are never disadvantaged. Life may bring poverty, abuse, and discrimination and yes these are stumbling blocks for growth. But using labels to define a persons life, a label with a permanent edge to it is the greatest of all obstacles as it puts up walls which both block people out and keeps people into a world of hopelessness. No, there is no disadvantaged when we believe that God truly does give us unique and special talents and the potential for growth whether that means looking up a dictionary or discovering a new attitude. Either way the only disadvantaged are those who don't believe this. Theirs is a world bleak, narrow and judgemental. For the rest of us, with patience and faith our advantage will come.
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