Smart vs. Dumb

     

A question was presented to me today: How can you tell if someone is smart, or dumb? Initially I wrestled with the question a bit. How does one decide if a person is smart or dumb? Should we come to that conclusion ourselves, and if so, what constitutes a good answer for that? Just how do we decide if someone has what it takes to be called smart, and who are we to come to that conclusion?

When I first read the question, I immediately thought of Bruce Ballenger's Theory of Intelligence. My freshman year of college, I was enrolled in an English research class, and one of our first assignments was to read an excerpt from Bruce's "The Curious Researcher" book.  We were to come to our own conclusion about intelligence, and write a brief essay on it. After reading Bruce’s essay, I was caught off guard by his own startling revelation: he had finally decided at age 55, that he was not as dumb as he thought. This statement made me do a complete 180 when it comes to thoughts on intelligence. Here was a renowned English professor at Boise State who just recently came to the conclusion that he was not dumb? How can this be? On page 56, Bruce explains his statement a little more clearly, 

"I’ve considered this idea—that I’m really not that smart but have finally accepted my limitations—but I’m coming around to the belief that I’m probably smarter than I thought I was, that I was always smarter than I thought I was. I’m pretty sure this is true for most people, and frankly, the ones who have always known they were really smart—and who behave as if they are quite sure of this—are not the kind of people I usually like very much. Yet even the self-consciously smart people deserve our sympathy because being intelligent really, really matters to most of us. We can live with being unattractive but no one wants to feel dumb". 

Although his words resonated with me, how does this fit with teaching? Our students have the same worries, fears, and shortcomings that we perhaps all had when we were in school. Too often we see kids who feel like they are too dumb to do the work, so they give up. Hence, when it comes to deciding who is smart and who is dumb, do we as educators decide for them? It is my personal belief that every single student has the capability to learn something. I don’t think that there are dumb students, and smart students, but rather individuals with different levels of intelligence. Sally may be exceptional at math, while Robert is excellent at playing the guitar. Either way, you have two students who are intelligent and just learn in different ways.

Sometimes conventional teaching doesn’t always do the trick, and we as educators need to be able to expand on what we know, and accommodate our students’ needs. Learning is not a one size fits all approach, and we, as teachers need to remember this, especially when it concerns students in this day and age. They obtain information differently than we did in school, and they also have more opportunities for learning at their fingertips. So take advantage of this shift in learning, and embrace your limitations and your students’ limitations. You’ll be a much better educator when you do.