More Than One Way To Be Smart

Do you know why public education was originally created ? Most believe it was created to promote literacy, so that all could be educated and in turn, better their existence in the long run.

Did you know that's false?

After child labor laws were created at the turn of the century and children could no longer work in the factories, there was rampant vagrancy, criminal behavior and other mischief because the "kiddies" of the masses were left unsupervised all day and cities had to "get them off the streets" to keep all that mischief "in check". At the same time, everyone viewed the Henry Ford concept of the assembly line as the most efficient way to get things done. Both of those created the public education system that exists today!

But wait, that was almost a hundred years ago......and the system pretty much operates the same way with minor changes.

Yes, we need to have a literate workforce and citizens that can efficiently operate in an advanced technological world, but one area in which WE are failing is the recognition that not every student is smart in the same way--there are students that are not very good Math scholars---but they have a tremendous ear for music, or they are good at reading people, or maybe they are Math geniuses--but they can't even compose a sentence that makes sense.

Ever heard of The Theory of Natural Intelligences?
This concept was developed by a professor of education at Harvard many years ago. It's central theory is that IQ is not the total package of intelligence and EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING has an area in which they excel. Look at some of the most famous theorists, inventors, philosophers, artists, philanthropists, and biologists in time......Albert Einstein was thought to be mentally retarded in his early school years---but he found another environment in which he succeeded and thrived!!

I think individual intelligences is a concept that needs to be recognized and utilized in public education AND as a self-reflective process in everyone's life---this one simple question: WHAT IS MY GIFT?
If individuals discover the answer to this question, they will have less chance of living in poverty and work unhappiness would be at a minimum.

If we are to help children and teenagers find their "gift", we must begin early in providing educational experiences that will reinforce that journey to the discovery of their natural gift...and certainly our pre-prescribed test benchmarks are not accomplishing that task!!!