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We have already seen that intelligence is not about what we can remember, but rather, it is about being able to develop deep understanding. The Learning Process enables the development of this capacity, and schools should be the place where we the leverage the gifts and talents everyone has, and celebrate them, expanding that understanding to ever deeper depths.
Intelligence is displayed in so many ways. We see so many people that have a beautiful singing voice or a range of practised skills to play a sport or act on a stage, or dedicate their lives to the service of others, but why should these be rated lower than someone with an innate capability to remember obscure facts. Why?
If a university professor releases a new piece of research, we are in awe, despite the fact they possibly cannot throw a ball to save themselves. Why do we not judge them as being less intelligent because they cannot throw a ball accurately? The sportsperson, singer, builder or magician is just as capable, but if they do not have a wide-ranging vocabulary when they speak or remember well via rote, we lessen our perception of their intelligence and capability. We urgently need to recalibrate how we judge intelligence.
Intelligence is far more equitable than we tend to perceive. We tend to view
intelligence through a myopic lens, via the teaching narrative that we have established over the past 200 years, based on learning to read and write. That narrative is now being challenged - and it needs to be.
As a species, we must continue to adapt to the changing conditions we find ourselves living and learning within. This includes the natural environmental changes and the ones we may well be exacerbating. We are transitioning from a society where we only needed 20% of people to be ‘intelligent’ across a specific set of domains, to one where we now find ourselves requiring 80% of people to be intelligent in numerous ways. This reversal of percentages and the change in the types of intelligence we now need, will require everyone to reassess the learning that takes place in all our learning institutions, as well as the learning that we continue to carry out every day we are alive.