So this week we discussed intelligence and IQ in class and I would like to take the time to share my personal view on the topic, not what was discussed in class but just the theories and thoughts I have on what value intelligence has in life and how it is misinterpreted.
Intelligence is widely considered to be the key to success, a pole-position start on the grid or a blessing as people who don’t like metaphors would say. And how true that may be it certainly is a guarantee that successful people are intelligent (I’m talking to you George W. Bush).
People have debated and researched human intelligence for ages, there are dozens of theories which contradict each other or emphasize different nuances of the phenomenon. No definite consensus has been reached by experts although the most popular way of measuring mental capacity is the IQ-test. The basic premises is to factor various skills which strain the brains capacity and factor in age. The problem is that it’s a test designed for the male brain and it overlooks essentials like long term memory and language barriers. Also, in my opinion your vocabulary isn’t a suitable measuring point when it comes to intelligence, it might be an indication of how much books one reads and thus a sign of their thirst for knowledge but I often find people try to hide their fallacies by using big words.
Another common misconception is that your education is a barometer for your intelligence, let me point a view thing out. I won’t discuss the shortcomings of the educational system I’ll save that for another blog post. When I was young I always looked up to a cousin of mine, he was really creative and his IQ-test indicated he was highly gifted. We went to the same school up until 7th grade when he transferred to a school closer to his house. There the new teacher never really got a chance to properly access him and even though his score on the infamous CITO-test was top of the line he got sent to VMBO level. Meanwhile a few years later I found myself sitting surrounded by people who were surprised to learn that a tree is a plant and a rock doesn’t have cells on the highest level of high school education.
Intelligence is a funny thing, we long for it in a partner, we seek it in need of guidance and for every person who desires it there are at least two people who pretend to possess it. The hard part to do is to tell the difference since intelligence is such a difficult thing to define. You could be deceived by their vocabulary or the level of education they might have received but these are only small parts of what determents a person’s intelligence. I’m not saying Harvard is full of retards but what I am saying is not everybody who goes to a community college has the mental capacity of a 4th grader.
The Rational Mindset 