Does going to school and having good grades makes one intelligent?

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

There are three types of education, which are; Formal, Informal and Non-formal Education. These three kinds of education, all boils down to building one's intelligence. You don't have to be in school or get your grade alone to be intelligent.

Getting good grades in school shouldn't be a measure of one's intelligence even though school or education has its way of impacting knowledge into an individual, and if one cannot apply the knowledge and skill he or she has been taught, then the intelligence is nothing but empty.

Being intelligent is when you can think, learn from experience, solve problems and adapt to new situations. An ability to apply knowledge and skill!

This is more like a person who has just changed environment and because he is just new to the area, he refused to step out to find things to do to survive and he gives the excuse that he is still new and does not know any place around. Instead of using his intelligence skill by moving out to seek opportunities, he is grounded only in his house and gives excuses.

This made me remember my last teaching practice some months ago. My supervisor came to check on us where we were observing our practice and it's so shameful for a 400 level student not to give solutions to a pupil with a career problem as a counselor in training. My supervisor was disappointed in her and was like “with all you were taught in the school, you couldn't practice them outside the school.”

This is embarrassing and when she collects her certificate, she would also be claiming a graduate in Guidance and Counselling. That was a waste of years in the University.

We have many great people who didn't go to school or even dropped out and they developed one or two things which we are benefiting from today. Being intelligent is when you can solve critical problems in the best way without being frustrated to leave it halfway unless you'd give it or proffer the best solution to it.

We have many graduates out there who can't even defend themselves by making use of their intelligence quotient (IQ) to solve a particular problem even in their field of study.

What makes a person intelligent?

Someone with a non-formal education can still be intelligent and this is to tell you that every human being is intelligent as long as you can practice the knowledge and skill you have been taught anywhere apart from school. Three things make one develop his or her intelligence and they are;

Curiosity: This is the ability to explore something you'd wanted to know about. We all would always come across a particular subject or topic that would want to make us know more about it.

Passion: Once you can identify something you crave and want to understand more in-depth, you have to develop a passion for it, or else, you might get tired after some time and that is the end. When you are passionate about a thing, you would want to put in your best to achieve a good and reasonable result.

Desire to learn: You can't desire something you never had a passion for. It is what you are curious to know, developing a passion for it and desiring to learn till you understand better.

Of these three things, I would say one is intelligent.

There are different areas where we are intelligent on. Just like the lady I talked about above, she might not be intelligent in that area but trust me, she can solve other problems and adapt to new situations for which she has a passion for.

It is not until you attend the best school or own a good grade that you can be intelligent, there are areas where an individual would exhibit his or her intelligence and you'd wondered how on hell does he do it without visiting the four walls of the classroom? It's possible as long as you can understand life's experiences, solve the problems and adapt to new situations. That is it!

Thanks for your time.

Image by Pixabay from Pexels

[October 23, 2022] (No 295 articles for the year)