Intelligence Vs Brilliance...

_Pixabay

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This debate about intelligence and schools is one that has been on for a long time indeed. We hear every time, how much school is important for one to be intelligent. After all, that is what we are sent to school for.

So, are all these analogies correct? Do we really need to go to school to be intelligent? And to that, my answer would have to be yes.

Some of you might find this weird, but chill, this is just the beginning of my write-up.

A child’s life basically begins in the home. It is at home that they learn how to talk, eat, walk, go to the restroom, and do other basic things. They learn these things by watching others around them and emulating what they see. Basically a process of "copy and paste".

But then, they have to go to school, right? One thing I have come to learn about school as a whole is that it is not just for the academics that we go there. Although it might seem like it, academics are just about fifty percent of the reason we need to go to school.

_{Pavel Danilyuk}

When we are in school, right from kindergarten, we get to mingle with people our age from different families and backgrounds. This is the very first step we take when we begin to mingle with society at large. Not even in the place of worship, because then we might be stuck only with our families. It is in school that we are responsible for going out there and making friends.

Our social skills begin to build while we are in school, from a young age we would see those who have the tendency to be leaders, followers or people who just can’t be in a team. From the way they play with their peers, you will know that. And you will also see that the children will learn how to play with each other. The meek ones will know well to avoid those that play rough and stick to those that are more their type.

Without school, children will not know that there are such different individuals. Even if they are homeschooled, they will still not know what it is to be among peers who have experienced life differently than you.

We need to know that school is not all about Mathematics and Physics, that is why we have clubs and sports. These all help to build individuals and improve their intelligence.

_Kobe-

People have always confused intelligence with brilliance. Passing your exams with the highest grades might mean you are brilliant, but it does not mean you are intelligent.

To my understanding, brilliance is basically being academically sound and intelligence is simply the ability to apply our knowledge to our everyday life. You can only be brilliant in school, or other academically inclined spaces. But when it comes to real life, and the outside world, what we need is intelligence if we are going to survive it.

As we all know, the knowledge we have is what shapes our lives. And part of that knowledge is gotten from experience. This is where intelligence stems from. I will give you an analogy.

Imagine someone that has always lived his life in the ghetto, and one day had to move to a developed city. The person is going to have a hard time fitting in and getting in tune with the environment. It will be very different from moving to another ghetto because this time around he will be in a place with a totally different set of people who have totally different lifestyles. It will take some getting used to on his part, but his level of intelligence will determine just how quickly he will adapt to his new environment and blend in until it is no longer obvious he came from the ghetto.

_{Jan Van Der Wolf}

The same will be true if a person who had lived all his life in the city moved to the ghetto, it will be the same effects, just reversed. And now, compare these two scenarios with someone that has always been shuffling between the ghetto and the city all his life. Someone that has done it so often that they can blend in anywhere with ease. Then you will understand what I am trying to say here.

When you read in a book that fire is bad for the human body, and that information is stored in your head, that is just brilliance. But when you apply that knowledge in real life, then there is intelligence. Intelligence is just you being able to use whatever situation you find yourself in to make your life better. The rate at which you learn and apply will also be a key factor in determining your intelligence quotient.

There are some people who it seems had a knack for business right from the womb, from a young age they were already trading in one thing or the other, even though neither of their parents are traders. There are some that will only venture into business during their secondary school days. There are those who will do it during their University days. And there are those who will do it a long time after, probably after hunting for jobs and getting disappointed.

There is a simple explanation for all these variations, it is that we all have different lives and therefore different experiences that build up to intelligence. And so, we would have our go at life differently. What matters is that we are actually working to make it better.

_Pixabay

So, what am I trying to say here?

While I feel that it is important to go to school to get intelligence, the school does not guarantee that a person will be intelligent. Because, as I said, we all are different and for some it may take more than others.

There are different types of intelligence; from social, emotional to financial, and they all require us to deal with other people. How we affect society and how we allow society to affect us, it is from a young age we learn how to deal with the ups and downs of being a member of society. And I believe that the first place we can learn that is in school.

Wow… this is getting longer than I had expected. I didn’t think I would have this much to say. But then, what can we do? Sometimes, once you start it is quite hard to stop until you have poured it all out. Everything I have written here is just based on my understanding of intelligence and brilliance, there is no research or science backing it up.

So, if you feel I made an error, feel free to let me know in the comments section. I would love to know what you are thinking.

_Jeshoots.com

Thank you for reading, till we meet in the next post.

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_{This post is inspired by the first topic for this week which is Intelligence. Feel free to try it out.}

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_{Borderimage credit: @deimage.}