Education = Intelligence? Hardly.
- Thread starter Realitycrash
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Intelligence cannot be measured. It's like "good" and "evil". It is an arbitrary human-made quality that doesn't really pertain to anything specific.
If someone reacts to a situation by thinking it through and then acting they are intelligent.
If someone reacts to a situation by running forward without a plan they are stupid.
An intelligent man questions, a stupid man follows blindly. An intelligent man tries to figure out solutions, a stupid man forfeits without thinking. A man chooses, a slave obeys (sorry).
Intelligence implies that you can think and that you want to think. Innovations do not necessarily need education but they definitely need intelligence. Education often helps develop the brain which leads to educated people having more intelligence.
of course, we are humans and therefore don't fit categories and the most intelligent can be stupid at times and the other way around.
If someone reacts to a situation by running forward without a plan they are stupid.
An intelligent man questions, a stupid man follows blindly. An intelligent man tries to figure out solutions, a stupid man forfeits without thinking. A man chooses, a slave obeys (sorry).
Intelligence implies that you can think and that you want to think. Innovations do not necessarily need education but they definitely need intelligence. Education often helps develop the brain which leads to educated people having more intelligence.
of course, we are humans and therefore don't fit categories and the most intelligent can be stupid at times and the other way around.
Agreed. I think society is aware of the difference though. For instance, My Name is Earl.SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
Randy = stupid.
Earl = uneducated, but fairly intelligent.
That said, I've met some people who are dumb as bricks over the years.
There was a girl who asked if this was based off of a true story:
That same girl went out with a friend and they couldn't get a ride home so spent the night at some random guy's house. He fortunately turned out not to be a creep.
There was another girl too. It was the middle of the day, and I was in an English class and all the windows were shut. The guy next to me made a soft hooting noise and this girl on the other side of the room said "oh, I just heard an owl."
Then there was a guy who, in the middle of a science lesson about radiation therapy, asked who came up with the words Alpha, Beta and Gamma. That could be seen as lack of education, but it was three weeks before our Science GCSE exam.
Intelligence, like fitness, is a broad term. What I consider to be intelligence may differ from what everyone else here sees as intelligence. For me, intelligence is very abstract and not strictly defined in any way other than being good at something that needs thinking.
I don't think, as a species, we understand enough about the brain to quantify what makes someone smart. Most people's definition of intelligence is pretty medieval.
For example, is someone good at football intelligent? (based solely on the fact they're good at football) This is the sort of thing that wouldn't be classically considered to be a form of intelligence, but when you think about it, it requires a lot of muscle control and tactical thinking, both of which are undoubtedly mental skills.
(Parrots can't read. Dogs and horses can be taught, though. I think Pigs can too, but don't quote me on that.)
For example, is someone good at football intelligent? (based solely on the fact they're good at football) This is the sort of thing that wouldn't be classically considered to be a form of intelligence, but when you think about it, it requires a lot of muscle control and tactical thinking, both of which are undoubtedly mental skills.
(Parrots can't read. Dogs and horses can be taught, though. I think Pigs can too, but don't quote me on that.)
Fixed that for you.M920CAIN said:parrots can read?!Shawn MacDonald said:where can I get one?Dear God, we're doomed!
I am of average education, but I am more intelligent than the average person. My favorite subject is science, I love theoretical physics, chemistry, and general universe sciences. Being able to understand such things requires critical thinking. In this way I believe I am above average intelligence. Comprehending problems and coming up with solutions is an essential part of the vast puzzle solving we must do in our daily lives.
This is very similar to IQ test. From what I've been told they don't test so much for how much knowledge you've collected as much as how good you are at comprehension.
As for proof, while I never have taken a true IQ test (though my online ones are usually 140) when life become tough I attempted to join the army. I scored high enough where I could have pretty much whatever job I wanted. I was going to go in fresh as a Staff Sergent studying to become a CBRN (chemical, radiological, nuclear, biological) specialist. Thankfully my eyes are terrible and they wouldn't let me in.
I know its not true proof, but it is something.
This is very similar to IQ test. From what I've been told they don't test so much for how much knowledge you've collected as much as how good you are at comprehension.
As for proof, while I never have taken a true IQ test (though my online ones are usually 140) when life become tough I attempted to join the army. I scored high enough where I could have pretty much whatever job I wanted. I was going to go in fresh as a Staff Sergent studying to become a CBRN (chemical, radiological, nuclear, biological) specialist. Thankfully my eyes are terrible and they wouldn't let me in.
I know its not true proof, but it is something.
Thank you Mr. Thread making man, you would not believe the amount of physics students I've explained this to. Being educated is not an indication of intelligence, it's an indication of application.
Well, if nothing else then you could go by the Kruger-Dunning effect -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
While better education might not directly make you more intelligent I'd say it does help...
While better education might not directly make you more intelligent I'd say it does help...
Fact is, education is not something you can show. Sure, you can say you have a degree in being God-Like or something but you could have accumulated more knowledge at home by informing yourself through books or the internet, yet nobody would recognize that as some form of education (at least officially).
One could say that the topics that one adresses or simply the way you handle conversations would show how intelligent you are, but there is still a problem with that.
Talk about art and people think you are either an artist or just pretentious, for example.
I met a guy who always seemed to break out with the most random facts and start talking about them. Is he educated? Well, he certainly knows a lot, but he misses one thing that the IQ test actually does consider - Emotional Intelligence.
If someone manages to know 'everything', for example, is he still considered smart after he talks about 'everything' during coffee-break with his co-workers? No, he would not be. If you don't have emotional intelligence you are most likely either egocentric or just inverted which automatically makes it impossible to apply most of the knowledge that you can gain. (not so much inverted behavior, but egocentrism most definitely)
Imagine a wizard like Gandalf who would just go around and spam people about the existence of whatever-book and whatever-demon and whatever-magic; we would not say that he is smart, we would make fun of him (mostly).
Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter movies is also a good example. She is a smart girl at heart, which we find out as the story progresses, but her inability to express herself normally makes her seem rather weird. ( I still love her and I wish I would meet someone 'weird' like her, hrrr )
One could say that the topics that one adresses or simply the way you handle conversations would show how intelligent you are, but there is still a problem with that.
Talk about art and people think you are either an artist or just pretentious, for example.
I met a guy who always seemed to break out with the most random facts and start talking about them. Is he educated? Well, he certainly knows a lot, but he misses one thing that the IQ test actually does consider - Emotional Intelligence.
If someone manages to know 'everything', for example, is he still considered smart after he talks about 'everything' during coffee-break with his co-workers? No, he would not be. If you don't have emotional intelligence you are most likely either egocentric or just inverted which automatically makes it impossible to apply most of the knowledge that you can gain. (not so much inverted behavior, but egocentrism most definitely)
Imagine a wizard like Gandalf who would just go around and spam people about the existence of whatever-book and whatever-demon and whatever-magic; we would not say that he is smart, we would make fun of him (mostly).
Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter movies is also a good example. She is a smart girl at heart, which we find out as the story progresses, but her inability to express herself normally makes her seem rather weird. ( I still love her and I wish I would meet someone 'weird' like her, hrrr )
I think education leads to increased intelligence, or at least being better equipped to access your intelligence.Realitycrash said:
If you want a quick-and-dirty way of thinking of it, education tends to focus on imparting knowledge and skills. Intelligence tends to be about a person's ability to apply knowledge and skills to novel situations. An "educated" person might know how to do multiplication problems. An "intelligent" person would be able to figure out that a particular real-life problem would be best solved by multiplication.
Shorter: Education is how much knowledge you have. Intelligence is how quickly you navigate and connect knowledge.
There are plenty of people who can be quite intelligent. However, lacking a lot of information, they aren't as able to demonstrate that intelligence. Someone that is very mechanically-minded might be able to figure out pretty quickly how an engine works... but without "education" (meaning exposure to diagrams, part names, and hands-on experience) they might not be able to demonstrate that intelligence.
Education is what allows people to turn the "potential energy" of intelligence into "kinetic energy." We certainly shouldn't make the mistake of believing "education" exclusively means "school." However, we also shouldn't discount the value of school -- daily experiences, led by an expert, that focus specifically on imparting knowledge.
Analogy time: Intelligence could be seen as a gold vein under your house. Education could be seen as the equipment you use to dig it up and refine it. All the education in the world can't put gold where there is none, and all the gold in the world is meaningless unless you can get to it.
I agree with this so hard. My old man is an US Army Warrent Officer, Computer Programmer, Web Designer, Mechanic, Carpenter, Bee Keeper, Wheat/Hay Farmer, and has a Bach in Mathematics, Masters in Astro Physics.SckizoBoy said:Clever...(!) -_-lisadagz said:After all, we talk about some animals being 'more intelligent' than others. Do we think that dolphins go around in schools? Do we think rats hang out in science labs? Wait... you know what I mean!
OT: Now, there seems to be some confusion between 'intellect' and 'intelligence'...
IMO, what should be viewed as intelligence is rather... adaptability, being able to fit into new circumstances (by that I mean professions etc.).
e.g. in terms of brute 'intellect', I am head and shoulders above my old man (except in physical chemistry... ¬_¬ ), but I still regard him as being far more intelligent, since he has worked as the following: (medical) theatre attendant; city trader; spectroscopic technician; gas engineer; telecoms forecaster; civil servant; statistical analyst; and a couple others (and to top it off, his half-serious ambition is to be a bloody mortuary attendant...(!)). So, in the context of 'now', this required/s a hideous level of transferable skills that seem sorely lacking in most now... myself included, so it would seem...
Besides, there's 'knowing' something, but 'intelligence' would be applying said thing and using it to interpret new knowledge...
/mental derp, not sure why...
Fuck I'm 26 and I'm still working on my Bach >.<
In my experience, people who are very "intelligent" or can tell you the absolute mass of a cobalt atom suspended in the interior of a black hole about to reach criticality while systematically being fired on by a high velocity field of......magic, often have no common sense or clue as to the real world.
Case in point, I lived with a materials engineering master (he was doing his doctorate at the time), he knew all about materials, resistances, corrosions, weights, techno-blah, but when it came to washing the plastic shower curtain, he put it in the machine......on a 60 degree C wash and an hours drying cycle, then wondered what had gone wrong.
Case in point, I lived with a materials engineering master (he was doing his doctorate at the time), he knew all about materials, resistances, corrosions, weights, techno-blah, but when it came to washing the plastic shower curtain, he put it in the machine......on a 60 degree C wash and an hours drying cycle, then wondered what had gone wrong.
I agree.
Intelligence is your ability to effectively and efficiently assimilate, order and apply the knowledge you do have to each scenario that may befall you.
It has little, if anything to do with your knowledge and education directly, but it does have a great deal to do with your ability to expand your knowledge, and piece information you discover into the tapestry of your mind, thereby making it useful knowledge rather than trivial facts.
Intelligence is your ability to effectively and efficiently assimilate, order and apply the knowledge you do have to each scenario that may befall you.
It has little, if anything to do with your knowledge and education directly, but it does have a great deal to do with your ability to expand your knowledge, and piece information you discover into the tapestry of your mind, thereby making it useful knowledge rather than trivial facts.
I for one believe that an education doesn't necessarily make someone intelligent. Certainly an education can help, but it still comes down to the individuals ability to analyze, apply knowledge and think critically.
Also, didn't Einstein drop out of school and became one of the smartest men in history?
To quote Confucious: "He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger."
Also, didn't Einstein drop out of school and became one of the smartest men in history?
To quote Confucious: "He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger."
Surely this is just an argument of semantics?
Oxford English Dictionary:
intelligence
[mass noun]
1. the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
intelligence
(1) the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations : reason; also : the skilled use of reason (2) : the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests)
Which is fairly vague. Worse, all sorts of people mean all sorts of different things when they actually use the word. This makes it unsuitable for serious discussion without clarification of what we mean by "intelligence" in this context.
For many people, the definition of "intelligence" really is "how well you score in an IQ test". For others, it's your level of knowledge. Or you can talk about intelligence in reference to a particular skill. ("he's very intelligent when it comes to maths.")
Oxford English Dictionary:
intelligence
[mass noun]
1. the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
intelligence
(1) the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations : reason; also : the skilled use of reason (2) : the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests)
Which is fairly vague. Worse, all sorts of people mean all sorts of different things when they actually use the word. This makes it unsuitable for serious discussion without clarification of what we mean by "intelligence" in this context.
For many people, the definition of "intelligence" really is "how well you score in an IQ test". For others, it's your level of knowledge. Or you can talk about intelligence in reference to a particular skill. ("he's very intelligent when it comes to maths.")