47. What is the measure of Intelligence?

Can we measure intelligence? Is there a standard to measure intelligence?

Right from school, we use standard benchmarks to determine a person's socalled level of intelligence. In the grading system used from elementary school through college, we compare and grade all children for various skills and aptitudes.

One child may be good in science and another may have a natural talent for music. But both are graded on the same scale in science, and both are graded on the same scale in music. Now, how do you decide which child is 'more intelligent'? If the intelligence is measured based on performance in science, the child with an interest in science will be declared more intelligent. If the intelligence is measured based on musical performance, then, naturally, the child with a flair for music will be seen as more intelligent than the child who has the aptitude in science.

Say you choose science as the benchmark for intelligence. Then, the child poet gets the idea that he is not as intelligent as the science based child. Consciously or unconsciously, the poetic child starts suppressing his natural intelligence and tries to imitate the scientific child.

We need to understand an important thing here. One kind of intelligence is needed to be a scientist and another kind of intelligence is needed to be a poet. To be an Olympic swimmer one needs yet another kind of intelligence! Intelligence is the ability to respond to a situation or challenge. As the situation differs, the dimension of intelligence that responds to the situation also differs. The scientific child responds to a particular situation from a particular dimension of intelligence, whereas the poetic child responds to another situation from another dimension. The swimmer responds to yet another kind of situation from yet another dimension of intelligence!

Everyone is born intelligent, it is a question of just discovering each one's unique dimension of intelligence.