An inventory of intelligence
VENAN B DIAS
Many students have a dilemma choosing a particular stream soon after their SSC. This particular trend can be observed in schools across the country and often leads to utter chaos among the student body. The end result is far from what it should be. Students latch on to the opinions of friends and relatives to take a decision on their future. Educational institutions try to help and conduct competitive tests to select the right student for the right course. But are these tests reliable? Do they holistically analyse the student? Uninterested but intelligent students may excel in these tests but they may not detect their core interest. The ultimate result is a bell curve with the top 10 per cent admitted into elite institutions, the middle 70 per cent dispersed in the crowd of willing institutions who want to fill up their seats and the bottom 20 per cent relegated to any available course which they get into as a right to education.
Institutions need to move away from this mentality, look at the bigger picture and assess a student’s peak strengths and inclinations. In this scenario an institution needs to know more about the student as everyone has a particular intelligence that needs to be nurtured and honed. Educational institutions need to make the best use of the wealth of knowledge and resources by adequately profiling students based on their interests with an indepth understanding of their multiple intelligences.
We should refrain from judging the young at the beginning of their careers through an arbitrary and narrow definition of intelligence. We must instead set about valuing people for who they are, what they can be, and helping them to grow and fulfill their potential. It is about changing our concept of what constitutes intelligence. This is a great aid to human resource specialists, managers, training staff and consultants who desire to increase organization productivity, service, profitability, and staff satisfaction. It also helps the educational systems to channelize the intelligence of students appropriately without prejudice.
There are several types of multiple intelligences and among these only interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence is part of the emotional quotient. It lets us know if we are introverts or extroverts and both attributes can be used as an individual’s strength. The different types of intelligences are:
1. Linguistic: the ability to use language orally and in writing to convey information, conduct critical analysis, persuade and convince.
2. Mathematical, technical, logical and scientific: the ability to perform mathematical operations, make logical decisions, understand technical principles, and apply scientific rigour.
3. Visual: artistic skills as well as the ability to understand spatial relationships and attention to visual detail.
4. Auditory: auditory acuity and ability to make distinctions based on auditory input.
5. Kinesthetic: the aptitude for physical performance as well as fine motor skills.
6. Interpersonal: the ability to relate to others effectively in order to accomplish specific results.
7. Intrapersonal: self awareness and self understanding. Students use their multiple intelligences to ensure success in their studies and it works as a factor that impacts academic performance.
All multiple intelligences are important to an individual though it is known that that many college entrance tests stress on verbal/ linguistic and mathematical/ logical abilities and neglect the rest. To counter this, a teacher has to embrace diverse ways of imparting knowledge. There should be a significant effort to select materials, design activities and access students with a broader view. This will ensure the enhancing not only of the intellect, but also emotional, social and spiritual development.
The seven intelligences if mapped can accurately find the dominant and backup intelligence styles and their underlying strengths as indicated:
1. A linguistic person has a predisposition to use words and language which could be in the written or spoken form. Such an individual’s strengths are retention, interpretation and explanation of ideas and information verbally, and a deep understanding of the relationship between communication and meaning.
2. A logical/mathematical mind indicates that there is a sensitivity and capacity to detect patterns, the ability of scientific reasoning and deduction to analyse and solve problems, and interpret cause and effect relationships to arrive at a tangible result.
3. Musical predilection indicates a sentience towards sound and its uses and the ability to distinguish between tone and rhythmic patterns.
4. Bodily kinesthetics involves adroitness in the use of the body, legerity and balance, and co-ordination between eye and body.
5.Spatial and visual qualities relate to the generation of images and pictures, and understanding of their meaning..
6.The interpersonal deals with sensitivity to feelings and the ability to relate to others and empathizing with people and their situations.
7. Intrapersonal is where an individual has a self-awareness and an objectivity in understanding the self and its relationship with the world, with a strong desire for change.
Multiple intelligence is the right of every human being; teaching can be converted into a positive experience by using creative delivery methods. It can also help an individual to make the best career choice. Institutions can become facilitators by helping students to discover themselves through their intelligence. A multiple intelligence inventory can go a long way in identifying the right students for the right course and also bring out the best from teachers.
