on intelligence...

(Original Post 8/22/14)

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

I had a student arrive in my office today... feeling like said fish.

Working with adolescents in public education in a therapeutic context, I often find that my students attribute their brilliance to a letter grade or GPA. Often times this perspective on their brilliance in turn reflects their own self worth. I am reminded of when I was in seventh grade in the "stupid math class." I mean we ALL knew it was the "stupid math class." Both people who were IN the class and those who were NOT IN the class. Anyways, I digress. 

My POINT here is that there are so many ways to look at brilliance. In 1983, Howard Gardner, I believe still a professor at Harvard University, developed a model for working with intelligence called "The Multiple Intelligences Model for Learning." This was developed to address the different ways in which students might not only successfully learn, but also aided in looking at and more closely isolating children's strengths. As a master's degree student in educational psychology, we were challenged to approach kids from this standpoint when both teaching and assessing. Ironically, our educational systems only honor and "teach to" two of the eight (though there may be up to eleven) identified intelligence. Using the metaphor of the quote that opens this post, this tends to put a lot of fish out of water. If only we could embrace more in our scholastic programs.

I discussed with a student today how important it is to look deeply at ALL of our selves rather than assess ourselves part by part. If overall strength and success was measured by GPA, mostof history's well known scholars, inventors, artists, composers, writers and scientists would have been overlooked. Maya Angelou, for example, one of the most note worthy female inspirations of the literary and pro feminist world, never went to college. Now, I am surely not saying that students should drop out of school or not pursue higher education. I just want to draw attention to the fact that there are plenty of variables that weigh in on intelligence, and we have to remind our children, teens, and adults that there is a lot more to them than their ability to complete a math problem, or read a book with flawless fluency and comprehension. 

Letter grades, GPAs, standardized tests, etc... they polarize intelligence to the point where kids, hell even adults, begin to think that their wisdom is measured solely through academia... In looking at the above wheel, I must admit that not only is the aesthetic more fulfilling than simply black and white, but I also relax a little, knowing that there are so many opportunities for me to feel smart than my 7th grade, B- average. 

Great article addressing just this...

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