Written by: Aathishree S.V.
She is an undergraduate student at Flame University. Aathishree is pursuing a major in Sociology. She worked with Helikx School as an intern for a month.
Check out her personal blog: http://theyellowpage-aathi.blogspot.com/.
Have you ever wondered if your child is smart?
Did you assume that your child isn't intelligent because he/she did not have the best score in school or an IQ test?
I'm sure most of you will answer 'yes' for the above question. But don't worry. I'm not here to judge you for thinking so. I would say it was only natural that you had these doubts in mind because today's society claims such standards for intelligence. However, what if I told you it's time to forget these standards? What if someone worked hard to prove (at least theoretically) that there is no one intelligence but plenty?
Well, that someone is Howard Gardner. He is an American developmental psychologist who believed in the concept of Multiple Intelligences (MI). With this belief, Gardner postulated the MI theory with which he proved that a person could have more than one type of intelligence; in fact, eight in total.
"As Rose puts it, we should not think of students as disabled; we should instead consider whether our curricula may be disabled."
Gardner accuses our current psychometric tests and instruments of measuring only for a general intelligence using short-answer and paper-and-pencil tests. He takes the example of an uneducated sailor, who from a young age, learns to sail, build boats and navigate rough seas until he finally masters the skill. How do we measure the intelligence of this sailor? He cannot read, write or talk about velocity and vectors (concepts physics students may use to assess the technique and methods of sailing). But he knows to sail, and if I were to compete with him in a sea race, I'd probably drown.
In addition, Gardner regards a person's intelligence or mental capacity to be highly reflective of their cultural and social background. For example, my parents are both doctors who are very vocal with me about their practices. If my friend from college and I were to take a simple test about the basic functioning of a hospital, I would obviously score more than her. Now, would you call my friend stupid and me intelligent? No. You'd agree that I knew more because of my parents. Similarly, just because a person with an above-average educational background was able to score well in those intelligence tests (which they will too), doesn't mean they are smarter than the other uneducated person who took the same test. Circumstances and settings matter.
Therefore, Gardner claims it is necessary to change the way we perceive intelligence. In his book Frames of Mind, first published in 1983, Gardner outlines seven intelligences (an 8th intelligence was added in a later edition) that give a holistic view of people's talents, abilities and mental capacities.
Linguistic Intelligence
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
Musical Intelligence
Spatial Intelligence
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
Interpersonal Intelligence
Intrapersonal Intelligence
Naturalistic Intelligence
(An explanation of all the above intelligences is given shortly and crisply here: https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161. I recommend you quickly give it a read before continuing reading my article.)
Now, after reading about these intelligences, it is highly crucial not to assume that a person will only be well-versed in one of the above. This would mean you also fall under the misconception that there is only a singular intelligence. Gardner ascertains that an individual can have a combination of the said intelligences, wherein one or two may be pronounced, maybe not. And it is also important to accept that there may be more/newer intelligences still unexplored. Hence the point is, there can be several permutations and combinations of these intelligences occurring in a person, which makes their skills, talents and services unique.
If you think Gardner stopped at merely theorising this concept of Multiple Intelligences, you are wrong. Since the years following the first publication of the MI book to this day, Gardner has explored and assisted many in experimenting with MI. He mainly showed keen interest in those who wanted to transform pedagogy in the lines of the theory. In Frames of Mind, he quotes his colleague David Rose: "As Rose puts it, we should not think of students as disabled; we should instead consider whether our curricula may be disabled."
According to Gardner, any educator who believes in MI theory must Individualise and Pluralise.
Individualising: it is an educator's responsibility to understand his/her students on a profile-to-profile basis and must teach in a way every child's capacity is brought out.
Pluralising: the educator must also decide which topics and concepts are of utmost importance to help his/her students gain maximum knowledge and ensure that these are taught in a variety of ways.
Of course, such levels of understanding and cooperation is near to impossible in today's classrooms filled with 30-40 children. But, with smaller classes and smaller schools, this can prove to be very rewarding. Gardner calls such schools "individual-centred school". Such schools will not only match every child's specific intelligences but also ensure they are exposed to educational opportunities outside of a school set up.
Nevertheless, Gardner points out one of the dangers of misinterpreting the theory. He firmly declares that "multiples intelligences should not be an educational goal", i.e., we must not impose the need for children to possess a particular set of the said intelligences or force the criterion on the students. More importantly, having or "mastering" these intelligences must not be the sole purpose of the change in the pedagogy. A child's education must reflect their values and societal needs.
Such misrepresentations are a reason why he also acknowledged the practical limitations of the theory and the need for more research in the field of MI in education. Yet, regardless of the shortcomings, misconceptions and criticisms (which were plenty), I strongly feel the need to begin a conversation or thought about the advantages of having an MI-styled education system.
With that being said, I wish to end with a quote by Gardner:
"I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating, and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place."
References:
Cherry, Kendra. "Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences." Verywell Mind, 17 July 2019, www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161.
Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. BasicBooks, 2011.
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