THE THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
“The only thing interfered with my learning is my education.” - Einstein
While reading Howard Gardner’s book Frames of Mind, the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, it reminded me what the world-renowned scientist Einstein said about his education and testing. And it also made me feel good about my failure of passing a paper- and-pencil test in my specialty.
Besides the above statement Eistein also said, “everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
I believe that no two human beings, even identical twins which share the same exact genes do not have the same intelligent profile, nor the same accomplishments in life. We are all different. Our differences are influenced by our genetics, culture, education, and upbringing.
The human brain and human mind are the most complex anatomical organs and difficult to understand esoteric concepts there is. Therefore, it is simplistic to think that there is a single mind, single learning style, single thinking, and problem-solving style that can be checked with a simple, “one size fits all”, paper – and -pencil test.
In my case, I know that I am a slow but a deep thinker. I cannot think fast. When I face a problem, I always pay full attention to think, consider every possibility, and try to establish cause - and -effects relationships before I make a final decision. I learn my best when I see and do things personally, and think on them, until I establish cause -and-effect relationships.
Because of my thinking style, I also act slowly. Paper-and -pencil tests run against time. And when not given enough time to think, I freeze. I answer all the questions intuitively. That is why I do not like paper- and- pencil tests, which I believe only checks the current short and declarative memories, not critical thinking ability, and non-declarative knowledge and memories. That is why, I much prefer having an oral examination
As I see it, paper and pencil tests are easy to administer, but they fail to separate good doctors from not so good doctors. I failed to obtain my board-certified gastroenterologist certificate with a paper- and-pencil test. But my colleagues and my patients never considered me as a lesser physician. I continued to have a thriving practice.
I believe Dr. Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory (MIT) is a timely departure from the old traditional concept that everybody has single general intelligence, that is measured by a simple IQ test. Professor Gardner instead, theorizes that all human beings possess not just a single general intelligence, but also a set of relatively autonomous faculties which he calls “multiple intelligences” - rather than considering them as talents, abilities or God given gifts.
Through my life experiences, it has been obvious to me that something was wrong with our education and testing systems that even annoyed Einstein caliber scientists. That is why, Multiple Intelligence Theory has been immediately accepted by many teachers as the truth, and inspired several educational experiments in leading universities.
I am a clinician, not a theoretician. In my medical practice, I often saw people with the same disease that did not respond at all, or respond differently to the same medication or treatments. Again, one size doesn’t fit all. The need to individualize medications and treatments for every patient becomes a necessity. I am very glad that there are multiple intelligences and that we are all unique individuals, not carbon copy of each other.
I know how an unqualified teacher can harm a student’s learning ability. Therefore, not only students but also teachers must be educated about MIT and MIT – inspired education methods. To me, MIT- inspired methodologies must be defined clearly, beforehand, and depend on diversity and individual differences of students learning abilities, and most importantly their main dominant intelligence. Therefore, a set of measures must be found, and created to determine the intellectual profile and learning styles of every student.
It seems to me that Dr. Gardner’s work, at the age of A.I., as a professor in Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate of Education must continue by all means possible.
