Intelligence

He Said

What do we mean when we say that someone is an intelligent person. The term is mainly applied to "booksmart"...... being educated. The more education, the more intelligent a person is thought to be. I measure intelligence in a different way, the utilization of different skills learned thru experience, observation or being taught.

The ingredients consist of a combination of social skills, education, language, and common sense. Common sense is the harder of the skills to learn. Ever say that someone "doesn't have a lick of sense". Acquiring social skills in life depends on ones personality, easy for extroverts but harder for introverts. Education is either self taught or school taught. Language is by reading or vocabulary building.

Social

I envy those bubbly personalities that are full of life and motivation. They are a pleasure to be around. Positive, upbeat and optimistic - easily taken advantage of. Totally opposite of introverts, those private people that guard themselves from others. They live in a private world; letting others know only what they want the other to know of them. Both categories are extremes and most find a middle ground between the two worlds. Skills that are positive and optimistic, but protected within the scope of realism. Realism is seeing things for what they are at that time - not what we want them to be. Optimism and realism blend together concerning change. Optimism is what we want them to be. Motivation is doing the necessary steps for change. Change is active, optimism is thinking that requires no action, a state of mind.

Common Sense

I first learned common sense working in a rental yard and construction. I almost lost a couple of fingers and another time a hand, working around "big" machinery. I had a few years of college under my belt, but not a "lick of sense". I learned quickly and built upon experience, relating one situation to another. Common sense is more learned thru experience than taught. Mechanics and construction workers have much common sense.

Education

Most education is learned thru schooling and getting that degree. Self taught is thru reading, tv learning channels and the net. In many ways its trial and error, this didn't work - I'll try that.

Language

In my middle twenties someone told me "If you know the three languages - you can communicate with anyone". I was aghast when he said they were: knowledge / current events, sports, music. He was so right, I try keeping up on all three.

All right, put away your notes. It pop quiz time!!

She Said

I have long believed that it takes more than a high IQ to make someone intelligent. The ability to learn is indeed a gift; however, what one does with that gift, in my opinion, is what really determines their intelligence.

I have a son with a learning disability. He cannot read or write as well as his brother, who also happens to be his twin. I was unaware of any difference in their ability until they were required to put their learning on paper. This is when the differences became painfully obvious. After watching my usually easy going son literally beat his head against the kitchen table repeating to himself that he was "stupid, stupid, stupid"- I decided to have him evaluated. Yes, there was a problem, and yes, he was going to require some different teaching methods and different standards of success. He was placed in Special Education and his self esteem rebounded as much as it could with a twin who reminded him often that he was in special education.

His goal, since his placement, is to return to regular education.

How did I not notice? Well, until reading and writing became part of his life- his "normal IQ" allowed him to absorb the world verbally, through taste, touch and feel, and through exploration- just as it does for all children. These are not his problems, reading and writing were. Is he "less smart"? I say no, and not just because he is my child. I have noticed that he has learned to compensate for these skills, and has managed to develop persistence and patience, skills that I do not see as strongly in his brother, for whom reading and writing were not problematic. Is one "smarter" than the other? In the eyes of the school system, yes; according to standardized tests, yes. In 'real life,' no; in my opinion, hell no. He has an amazing ability to retain that which he has taken in verbally - seeing a presentation or being read a passage, he can retain information much better than most that I have seen. I have also seen that he is more willing to try when things are hard. I think he has come to understand that even though it is not always easy, he can succeed with persistence.

We recently moved to Alabama. In the school system here, students who enter High School in Special education are not issued Diplomas upon completion of the 12th grade - they are given Certificates of Completion. When that became known, my son started attending regular education classes. He recieves some modifications, but mostly he is expected to work at the same level as his peers. His last report card was Three A's, Three C's and a B.

How does this relate to the rest of the world, and a perspective of intelligence? Simple. You can be brilliant, but if you don't make effort- the brilliance is just rolling around in your head doing nothing. Or, you can be less than brilliant and willing to use what you do have and make something of yourself.