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I find it interesting how people are always hesitent to be openly proud of intelligence they may possess, lest we seem arrogant.
Intelligence is generally considered a positive trait, one subject to conceit. I'm fond of humility. I think it's of equal value to intelligence, actually.
But I confess: I had originally written, "I'm smarter than most people I meet." Somehow, that sounded obnoxious.
I think IQ is bull**** to be honest. Never taken a test and don't want to. I would consider myself fairly unintelligent, but it doesn't bother me. I'd rather be an idiot than have an inflated self esteem. I did pretty well on standardized testing and made pretty good grades in high school.. none of that proves anything except that I did my homework and can can guess well.
Because if you polled people, 95% or so would say they are smarter than average... which can't possibly true.
Again, perhaps in one manner or another, in areas of specialization, why not?
I'm saying, a person trains to be an athlete. They win some kind of a competition, get a trophy or a medal or something...they get to stand tall and proud. A person practices with a musical instrument until they perfect it, and perform for others, are they not permitted their share of pride and acclaim? A guy always saves the day for all of the people he knows, because he is a whiz at auto repair (something that I, in all of my varied bits of knowledge, know little about)...should he not be pleased with himself for being very good and knowledgeable about something? He wasn't born knowing that stuff, any more than anyone was born knowing anything.
In my opinion, humility is knowing that no matter how smart you are, sometimes you're still going to do dumb things, or have major gaps in your intellectual subject matter, that there is always more to be learned.
I see no use in excess humility over something that one has as a strength, so long as one is appreciative of the gifts of others and treats other people with respect. I figure as many times as the "pretty girls" and "athletic guys" in high school gave the "smart kids" a hard time, nerds have every right to claim anything they can in life.
As much as I'd never tear another person down to make myself feel better, I see no reason to hunch myself down and pretend to be less to make others feel better. I'd rather we all be awesome at the same time.
Again, perhaps in one manner or another, in areas of specialization, why not?
I'm saying, a person trains to be an athlete. They win some kind of a competition, get a trophy or a medal or something...they get to stand tall and proud. A person practices with a musical instrument until they perfect it, and perform for others, are they not permitted their share of pride and acclaim? A guy always saves the day for all of the people he knows, because he is a whiz at auto repair (something that I, in all of my varied bits of knowledge, know little about)...should he not be pleased with himself for being very good and knowledgeable about something? He wasn't born knowing that stuff, any more than anyone was born knowing anything.
In my opinion, humility is knowing that no matter how smart you are, sometimes you're still going to do dumb things, or have major gaps in your intellectual subject matter, that there is always more to be learned.
I see no use in excess humility over something that one has as a strength, so long as one is appreciative of the gifts of others and treats other people with respect. I figure as many times as the "pretty girls" and "athletic guys" in high school gave the "smart kids" a hard time, nerds have every right to claim anything they can in life.
As much as I'd never tear another person down to make myself feel better, I see no reason to hunch myself down and pretend to be less to make others feel better. I'd rather we all be awesome at the same time.
I think there's a difference between being knowledgeable and being intelligent. One of my dad's friends got a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering (which is probably one of the most difficult majors to get), but it took him 10 years to get it. By the end of his schooling he was probably pretty knowledgeable, but not very "smart".
An unintelligent person can be good at the violin or repair cars, it just takes them much longer to grasp basic concepts. I can write a coherent sentence (most of the time), but it takes me twice as long to do most things people can do with ease.
I think IQ is bull**** to be honest. Never taken a test and don't want to. I would consider myself fairly unintelligent, but it doesn't bother me. I'd rather be an idiot than have an inflated self esteem. I did pretty well on standardized testing and made pretty good grades in high school.. none of that proves anything except that I did my homework and can can guess well.
Not necessarily. There are test flaws and lucky days, but intelligence is often passed through the mother and my mother was a bona fide genius, with an IQ of 162. When you get into numbers that high--that's Einstein territory--there is no doubting significant intelligence.
My parents didn't want to tell my sisters or me what our IQs were. They didn't want it to affect our opinions of ourselves or get in the way of academic self-discipline. Turns out my eldest sister's is on the high side (140-145), and the two middle ones were average and above average. When the average one found out, it kind of slaughtered her self-esteem.
My father had no qualms about saying he was of average intelligence. However, if you go with the theory that there are multiple forms of intelligence, and you tested his visual intelligence, it would have been quite high.
If you tested me on physical intelligence, I'd be below average but for an aptitude for freestyle dance. Forget the choreographed stuff. Too much to think about. And I work out at home because anyone watching me cardio kickbox would probably laugh his/her butt off, especially if I'm learning a move. "Oh, you wanted me to do something with my right arm? Well, here, let me do something with my left leg." It's that bad.
I never claim genius, but I know that I am more than capable of rational thought and I'm a hell of an investigator. I'm able to influence the minds around me. I have street smarts. I have awareness. I have high linguistic intelligence. Those are my true strengths.
My greatest lack is in the realm of emotion. I admit that I don't "feel" much either way and that tends to be a problem. It's very hard for me to feel love or hate, it's hard for anyone to affect me emotionally (whether positively or negatively - it doesn't matter); even I have trouble attempting to MAKE myself more emotional. I just don't get it.. feelings and emotions don't come natural to me..
I also don't put much faith into I.Q. tests; I take them (and others' "scores") with a large grain of salt.
I absolutely do think that there are many kinds of intelligence. Obviously most people feel this way, as evidenced by how the question was phrased in the first place.
Some people are subject matter experts and gained knowledge through study of some kind, or perfected a particular skill or talent through long practice.
Some people have a clever social wit, and can come up with the perfect snappy comeback to anything almost any time. (I could not do this as a kid, but learned at some point during my teen years and adulthood, and sometimes I pull off some really good ones now. Thus, having been on the socially awkward end of things, I really appreciate it when I am able to do this.)
Some people have a gift at "common sense"...making great life choices and giving good advice to others. And some have a gift of patience, which can take them far.
I suppose I consider it a measure of how well one is utilizing their brain, in whatever capacity may apply to them.
My husband lacks my social intelligence, patience, knowledge about accounting/finance...but knows staggering amounts of stuff about military history, geography, and all kinds of weapons.
My older son doesn't like to read or write, and struggles with language sometimes, but is mathematically brilliant and a pretty excellent musician. He also makes unbelievable origami, and can come up with his own patterns. (He can make a recognizable Starship Enterprise from a Post-It Note.)
My younger son is above average in almost every subject but can't settle on anything long enough to really specialize in it. Although his grades in school are better than his brother's, I worry about his future as an adult, because people who specialize in a field tend to be more successful than "jacks of all trades, masters of none."
I never claim genius, but I know that I am more than capable of rational thought and I'm a hell of an investigator. I'm able to influence the minds around me. I have street smarts. I have awareness. I have high linguistic intelligence. Those are my true strengths.
My greatest lack is in the realm of emotion. I admit that I don't "feel" much either way and that tends to be a problem. It's very hard for me to feel love or hate, it's hard for anyone to affect me emotionally (whether positively or negatively - it doesn't matter); even I have trouble attempting to MAKE myself more emotional. I just don't get it.. feelings and emotions don't come natural to me..
I also don't put much faith into I.Q. tests; I take them (and others' "scores") with a large grain of salt.
A personal question that you don't have to answer...
Do you use any kind of hormonal birth control (I assume you are female from your name)...?
Because I felt the same way, with regard to emotions, when under the influence of Depo Provera. When I went off of that stuff, all of my emotions, including joy and enthusiasm that had been dampened for years, came back.
Again, you don't have to say anything here, but if you are using that stuff, any hormone based birth control, research the side effects. Depo in particular is pretty nasty stuff. If not, then, well...yanno...nevermind.
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