photos by Jeffry W Myers http://www.mindsightmoments.com
By Tanya Ruckstuhl-Valenti LICSW
Have you ever spent time looking at trees? If so, you’ve probably noticed the magnificent way the branches spread against the sky, the interplay of light and shadow. How awesome something so stationary can take off in so many different directions, each branch individually seeking light yet still working together to supply the whole through the magic of photosynthesis. I marvel as well at all that happens underground, the invisible shadow of the branches in the root structure, each tentacle of root seeking moisture and offering this moisture upwards to reach the top most leaf.
No tree could survive if it contained just one branch, growing in just one direction. And yet, when people discuss intelligence they often mistake a single branch for a complete tree.
If you think of intelligence as a vast field of consciousness, in which awareness can exist as potential as well as in verbal expression or behavior; then there are as many forms of intelligence as there are branches of trees.
There’s the intelligence of knowing how to design a building that won’t collapse in an earthquake as well as the intelligence of knowing what flavors work together in a meal. There is the intelligence of knowing when our friend is feeling sad and how to offer them support as well as knowing how to fix a leaking radiator or to build a fence or to train a dog to come when called or how to potty train a reluctant child. There’s the intelligence of being able to paint a painting or to make someone laugh or write a poem, or knowing how and why to be kind to our spouse when they are stressed out and grumpy and we want to run away from them shrieking.
Yet in our culture academic intelligence is held up as the highest form. Why? In part, it’s for the same reason we don’t go to the beach and count each grain of sand… Recognizing and honoring all the different types of intelligence would require enormous patience. Here are some other reasons why academic intelligence wears the jeweled crown:
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It’s quantifiable. You can teach it and test it and pass it along like a baton. Unlike say, creativity which requires novelty and by its very nature is unique and thus cannot be tested.
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It’s a business. Academia is an inflation-proof business that, like the Emperor’s New Clothes, requires a widespread belief in order to remain significant. If the spell were broken we might ask problematic questions like, “Exactly how many people does a society need who can explain the allegorical meaning of Darkness Visible?”
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It supports a social and economic pecking order. Educated people are easy to identify based on their use of words. (Ever noticed how political correct language belongs exclusively to the educated, as opposed to the people it describes? How clever is that: A members-only system of communication masquerading as social service! )
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It’s convenient. Upon meeting each other, it allows us to rapidly sort others into “similar” and “different” groups as opposed to putting forth effort to get to know someone who (gasp!) looks or sounds different then ourselves.