Back in about 1995 Janet and I heard someone speak on the radio about various kinds of IQ, and how they felt that the “normal IQ test” as used in America, is such an oversimplification, that the way it is usually applied, causes much more harm than good. It tests for only a few skills and if one does not score well, they are absolutely denied many opportunities, and worse, they will probably think that they are no damn good. And that is probably the easiest self-fulfilling prophecy there is.
This person on the radio, said that in many years of testing children, that he had never ever found a child that was not exceptional in at least one of his identified kinds of intelligence. Each child owned at least one valuable gift. But, far too often, those children were held back unfairly.
I was visiting some new friends here in the marina. There a lot of really interesting people arriving to spend the winter or portions of it. I happen to mention this broadcast that I had heard, and because she was a teacher, Carol immediately recognized who and what I was talking about and wrote his name and information on a piece of paper for me.
I quickly found
http://howardgardner.com/
And I will probably need to spend a lot of time enjoying all the various nooks and crannies of his website. But so far I have only read:
“In a Nutshell” – Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons (PDF)
Click on the PDF to download his nice article. If English is not your first language, it may be challenging. I found it challenging and I’ve been wrestling with English for a long time. And be aware that this “nutshell” is 37 pages long. He has a lot to say, and even 37 pages is clearly the tip of the iceberg.
For a much shorter summary I suggest this link:
http://infed.org/mobi/howard-gardner-multiple-intelligences-and-education/
And, even though the whole page is good, you may want to scroll down to where the following phrase is found. It is about a third of the way down the page.
“Howard Gardner initially formulated a list of seven intelligences.”
There they quickly explain the following kinds of IQ:
Linguistic intelligence
Logical-mathematical intelligence
Musical intelligence
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
Spatial intelligence involves
Interpersonal intelligence
Intrapersonal intelligence
I believe that the English is much easier to follow in this version.
In later years Howard Gardner has found other things that he is considering including. These are not limited to:
Naturalist intelligence
Spiritual intelligence
Existential intelligence
Moral intelligence.
Although, he feels strongly that, the jury is out, on several of these. As you watch how he investigates and what rules he uses, you can quickly see that he realizes that this is a very complicated subject. But, incredibly important.
As of yet, I have not noticed in my brief reading, a treatment of
Wisdom intelligence or maybe the word is ‘Judgment’.
In my years, I have met many people who I consider to be extremely bright, but severely lacking in what I call wisdom. A few of them became criminals. Most of this low ‘Judgment’ group has had a very unhappy life because, in my opinion, they have made many really poor life choices.
I think it was in the 37 page nutshell, that one of Howard Gardner’s friends pointed out, very kindly, that Howard Gardner is unlikely to discover several important kinds of intelligence that he does not possess personally. This seems to me to be a very valid point. If you have no knowledge of the existence of something, you might not appreciate or recognize it when you see it. To me, that is a problem we all have. I will let you giggle about the things that Dave does not understand or appreciate.
I do feel bad, because I am pretty sure, that some of you who know me well, read things that I say or quote, and find them so explosively hilarious that I would be so far wrong as to say that, that you laugh so suddenly and unexpectedly, and especially in voluntarily, that the coffee you were drinking comes out your nose.
One time our Canadian friend Raymond, who is about as tall as a redwood tree, was innocently having a sip of his beer as he walked through the door from the kitchen into the dining room. Someone said something that caused him to laugh explosively with half a mouth full of beer. It came out of his nose, but his reflexes were quick enough that he turned his head to the side and showered the door jam and wall instead of us.
I don’t remember what caused it but I certainly remember helping him clean it up. And someone commented, that because Raymond is so tall, the spray is so improbably high on the wall, that no one will believe that it happened the way it happened.
Like the bear that claws a large patch of bark off of the side of a tree, as high as he can reach, to demonstrate that this is his territory, and he is really big and really strong. The theory being, at least among humans, that lesser bears, see that marker, and know that they need to keep moving.
Of course, when the snow is 10 feet deep, and a bear, even a short bear, does it, come summer, do even the big bears stay out of that portion of the woods, because I don’t want to meet that giant bastard that clawed that tree? Something to ponder.
I usually write much too much. Yes. Even I realize that my posts are usually 20 times longer than people enjoy. So I will stop this one here and encourage you to return many times to Howard Gardner’s webpages, and the many other webpages that you discover as a result.
I do find an immediate liking of someone who thinks that 37 pages of very complex text, is a nutshell. My kind of guy.
Dave
Alegria1976's Blog 