Intelligence Theories

Gabriel Taylor

My school aligns itself with Gardner’s theory of intelligence, it does favor certain intelligences
more than others though. It does follow all eight multiple intelligences, in the aspect of having
them all but not fairly using them. In my school most teachers try their best to implement new
ways of learning, whether through hands on activities or visual examples. In the department
side of things we have it all, but many classes and curriculums aren’t given as much attention as
others like the art courses in my school. My school could care less about the visual art classes,
they have a low budget and don’t give many opportunities to people that want to explore art as a
career. The bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is highly looked upon in my school, sports are a huge
thing and are given many opportunities to students within that intelligence. This is what I meant
by some intelligences favor more than others in my school which isn’t fair to many other
students. The reasoning I could think of things being the way they are is, because sports bring
in more money for the school while art doesn’t. That still doesn’t justify the actions of my school,
all curriculums should be given the same amount of opportunities so all students can succeed.

Sternberg’s theory on intelligence explains really great ways of learning. I wouldn’t say my
school upholds most of them or schools in general. Standard school curriculum doesn’t seem to
prepare you for the real world and the things it throws at you. They don’t seem to teach you
practical intelligence which is the ability to apply what you know to real-world situations. My
school doesn’t teach you how to file taxes or apply for jobs etc.., they give you the fundamentals
of basic knowledge you should know but nothing that can help you with your future adult life.

My school definitely follows Spearman’s intelligence theory as well as many other schools. The
whole testing system is a system that relies on numbers and scores. Kids have to make certain
scores to pass or get accepted into places, such as college or a certain type of job. In most
cases the scoring of your intelligence is all people see in the aspect of education. Why this is
the way things are, I wouldn’t know. In my opinion it doesn't make sense for people to be seen
as the score they are able to achieve in the education system. Many people don’t do well with
tests or exams yet it’s a huge factor people look at when any job or acceptance to a college is
on the line.

I would like to see the Gardner theory more in my educational experiences. I want all courses to
be given the same amount of opportunities to their students so they can thrive on what they
love. I want students such as myself to be able to learn through all the different intelligences,
which in my case is mainly visual art. I want to be able to have an AP art class in my school and
more than just one art room and class, so I can be given the opportunity to live the future life I
want as well as others.