Intelligent Thinking

Often people seek to become intelligent. What few fail to recognize is that intelligence is, in fact, a curse. Intelligence brings hurt, pain, and sadness. Intelligence is a curse upon mankind's very existence.

Or is it? Intelligence can make you a happier, more fulfilled person. You can seek out the very mysteries that plague mankind's existence, and maybe even solve these problems. You take life by the horns and you make your own way. An intelligent person fears the unsolvable, and solves the solvable. But an intelligent man or woman embraces problem solving.

But how is a person intelligent? Is there one universal indicator that makes a person smart or less-than-smart? For many years, we've relied on the traditional IQ test. However, as we've gained more insight to the human mind, we've uncovered that there are many different meters to gauge someone's intelligence. And there are many different ways that makes a person intelligent; and their IQ score has very to little relevance in today's world.

Let's look into Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences. It gauges that multitude of ways you can learn, and just how you prefer to learn. It establishes the categories of which a person can learn and gain intelligence, and it also scores you based on your answers from this test (self-scoring xls file, you need MS Excel).

Here are my findings:

• Linguistic: 30
• Logical-Mathematical: 33
• Musical: 25
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: 25
• Spatial-Visual: 29
• Interpersonal: 29
• Intrapersonal: 34

As you can see, my intelligence lies mostly with Intrapersonal techniques. This means I'm acutely aware of my feelings and have a strong sense of self. Tie this in with a strong Logical-Mathematical intelligence, means I'm a very deep and logical thinker who sorts things out on my own.

All in all, no one person can be judged by a specific set of qualifications. If Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences tells us anything, it's that we need to be open to the fact that everyone is intelligent in their own way. And they learn in their own ways, too. And everyone needs to be aware of this, before they go labeling anyone as "smart" or "dumb."

Matt Richards
COMM 203