Intelligence, a word not easily defined, is measured through an array of methods. To a kindergartner, intelligence is recognizing basic geometric shapes, to a middle school kid, intelligence is reading a novel, and to high school student, intelligence is measured in the form of grade point average. Each tier of educational development has academic hurdles, each year comes with its own standard of achievement. While climbing the academic ladder, students collect a series of red pen marks, gold stars, or smiley face emojis. Throughout the climb, there is one undeniable truth, all students - no matter rich or poor - face unrelenting social pressures and these pressures can’t be met with flashcards, textbooks, or elaborate rubrics..
Under the pixelated sea of academic accolades and detentions, lies another form of learning, another form of intelligence, a Lochness monster of development - Social Intelligence. Today, social intelligence both excites and puzzles stewards of education. How is social intelligence measured? What does social intelligence look like for every student? For some, these abstract ideals are real. For others, this idea of social intellect is just another fad. According to Adam Gant, journalist for the Atlantic, new evidence suggests that when people have self-serving motives, emotional intelligence becomes a weapon for manipulating others (Source A). This all the more reason for students to rehearse their own emotional temptations and avoid the allure of corrupt bureaucrats, dead-end financial loans, or harassing workplaces. Wherever this argument ends, there is one irrefutable archetype and that is every student is a core a social creature and this creature is filled with the very same hormones their grandparents had. Technology, culture, politics, and educational demands come and go, but every generation manages a common denominator and that is the rubix cube of social development and without its development students are more susceptible to the art of bamboozlement.
In a perfect world, both social and academic intellect would be fused together in perfect harmony for every student. As this debate percolates, students are left to unwind the learning goals of their education. Besides being an abstract skill, social intelligence is the ability to decipher social context at any specific time, at any specific place, at any specific age. Converse with a 25 year old college student from Yale, no problem. Break bread with a Rabbi from Israel, no problem. Defuse the temper of an angry customer at Dairy Queen, no problem. Let’s pretend that social intelligence is whooey, let’s pretend it's the “pet rock” of the educational fads. Lisa Feldman Barrett’s writes, Likewise, a scowling person might be angry or just thinking hard, or even have a case of indigestion. In fact, there isn’t a single emotion that has one specific, consistent expression (Source B). True, emotional intelligence won’t turn high school graduates into a modern day Zoltar machine reading the future, but this style of thinking promotes self-awareness and self-awareness leads to better decision making, which generates healthier styles of living. As this debate lingers, most would agree that students lives are imperfect measurements of success and failure. Throughout a student’s life, lies a series of social environments, conflicts, and pitfalls. If the modern classroom - legislative chambers too - ignore the realities of a students’ social needs, we run the risk of producing graduates that lack the ability to endure imperfection.
Its true, social intelligence might not win academic competitions or games of trivial pursuit, but it does provide students with a set of emotional stilts and these stilts provide a level of emotional stability. Enduring imperfection is the main ingredient to a successful life. Steve Jobs, Nikola Tesla, and Gary Dahl (pet rock guy) were all contributors to entrepreneurship and innovation, but all three of these innovators had flaws, both personal and professional flaws, but their contributions to culture and society are unmistakably obvious. Anya Kamentz’s article, Everybody Loves them but Can’t Define Them quotes educational leader Leyla Bravo-Willey of KIPP"We're not religious, we're not talking about ethics, we're not going to give any kind of doctrine about what is right from wrong, But there are some fundamental things that make people really great citizens, which usually include being kind." (Source C) Modern disappointment has transformed. There are so many avenues of discourse, that when a poor grade arrives or standard is not met, there is an immediate tendency to deflect, discredit, or dissolve the disappointment. With little effort toward compromise, students have a tendency to shift accountability to the educational setting or find ways to adjust their own trajectory, so that there is little energy toward expunged toward understanding. In other words, students don’t have to rehearse kindness, they don’t have to rehearse concept of swallowing pride. Student doesn’t agree with a final grade, they simply change schedules, student-athlete doesn’t agree with their role on a team, they transfer schools, or if a student simply doesn’t “like” an educator they take a course online. All of these choices are currently available and within a student’s right, but these choices have a long-term impact on how citizens manage their disappointments. Managing disappointment can’t simply be fixed, it can’t simply be ignored with exercise, booze, narcotics, shooting ranges, Snapchats, Tweets or World of War Craft. Educated citizens are not elitists, they aren’t simply a bunch of “Phonies” as Holden Caufield would say, educated citizens are constantly trying to problem solve to make themselves and their environments better.
In the end, the ability to endure imperfection is what graduates should be built on. Society and communities thrive on how its citizens endure, and its how a democracy survives. If modern designers and legislators only seek out the perfect academic setting, the perfect academic measurement, or the perfect set of standards, they are missing the fundamentals of educational knowledge. The knowledge of measuring ourselves in times of trauma, the knowledge of patiently finding new employment if our current work is unfulfilling, the knowledge of restraint in times of hatred, and the knowledge of humility in times of public embarrassment. Plato wrote, “A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers” encouraging students to solely look at numbers, likes, and averages isn’t healthy policy for anyone - left or right - but we all know how addictive numbers can be and social intelligence is the 1-step program that helps manage that addiction.
No comments:
Post a Comment