How Smart Are You!

You don’t have to be academically brilliant to be smart. Smart people come in various packages. Discover where you sparkle!

Are you sure you are not an artist? Does your future lie in sports? Or are you going to be a statistician as you are already considered a math geek?

Most of you in your class will opt for mainstream careers which are based on logical-mathematical intelligence and linguistic abilities as the entire school curricula and pedagogical base is constructed upon this kind of intelligence. Your artistic skills will go down the pot and you will be left struggling with figures and statistics you have no love for.  This mode of education has been challenged since 1983 when Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University published his thesis on Multiple Intelligences.

What is Multiple Intelligences

Multiple Intelligences posits that there are seven kinds of intellectual capacities each of which can be called an intelligence. Children are most often made to suffer in a system of education which privileges only one kind of intelligence – logical and linguistic. This type of training is geared towards desk jobs. It neglects the artist/designer/musician/gymnast in a child and other kinds of talent that a child may possess. Children who are unable to match these standards are accordingly said to suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

Several kinds of smartness

Everyone is not cut out for engineering. That is a fact. Your intellectual orientation could be completely attuned to the arts. Not just children but many adults spend their lives tied to a desk when what they really want to do is sing.

1. Word Smart: You are very good with written and spoken tasks, games and communication. It is very easy to detect a person who is word smart. They remember every turn of phrase, joke, dates, limericks and conversation. They can quote other people verbatim. They usually have a good vocabulary. You will envy their spelling abilities, communication skills and winning streak at word games. They usually become journalists, writers, lawyers, storytellers and academicians.
2. Logic Smart: You are good at making quick logical connections between things. These are people who are very quick to put two and two together or conjure up a simple explanation of very convoluted points. They are good at mental maths, chess, checkers, categorising, abstract and conceptual thinking. These kids usually turn out to be scientists, accountants and computer programmers.
3. Picture Smart: You tend to think in terms of images, pictures, colours and you have a photographic memory. People who are picture smart (also known as spatial intelligence) tend to think in terms of pictures and images. They can accurately draw diagrams, maps, charts and graphs. They love to daydream, watch movies, play jigsaw puzzles, paint, sketch and doodle and are very sensitive to colours. Of course, filmmakers, painters, graphic designers, fashion designers are picture smart people.
4. Music Smart: You tend to be sensitive to subtleties of melody and noises. Music smart people are able to keep time with music, sing in time and rhythm and can successfully decipher the difference between musical selections. Musicians, music conductors, music directors and critics of music belong to this group.
5. Body Smart: You are in tune with your body’s rhythms and are in control of it. Body Smart or Kinaesthetic Intelligence is that through which a person controls every movement of the body. It not only includes sports but also sewing, carpentry, dance and sports.
6. Person smart: You are good at connecting with people and their emotions.  You have the ability to respond, understand and identify with the other person if you are person smart. These are the kind of people who will be noticed in large groups, are natural leaders because they know how to listen. Socialising comes very easily to them. Usually they are members of multiple clubs and organisations.
7. Self Smart: This type of person is in touch with his inner self. A Self Smart person is introspective and reflective. He usually achieves the goals he sets, enjoys his own company and learns from his strengths and weaknesses, failures and victories.

So your inability to solve that physics problem does not mean that you are stupid. Our education system does not nurture all these kinds of abilities as there exists an inbuilt hierarchy. However, it is true that one cannot just focus on his strongest faculty. Your person smartness may not take you very far in understanding world history or politics. Neither can your kinaesthetic intelligence ensure that you will make coherent logical arguments. Thus, a comprehensive development of the body and mind, not only in school children but adults should also learn to explore where their talent lies and make the most of it. It is not difficult in this day and age to opt for an alternative career. There is no need to get depressed if you are not “smart enough” to be an engineer. The key is to excel at whatever you choose to do or be. Competition is what you should look out for, not convention.