Is Academic Excellence a Measure of Intelligence?

In our world today, it is not uncommon to find people weighing intelligence with academic achievements. It's typical for most parents, teachers and even society to believe that if one doesn't get straight As or attain good grades at school then that person has little or no intelligence.

This mindset has influenced me both positively and negatively in the past. Positive in the sense that it made me work hard to achieve my academic goals and negative in the sense that it gave me low self-esteem. When I saw my mates doing better than me in a subject while I kept getting low grades, it made me doubt my intelligence. I would be like; “Maybe I'm just not intelligent enough for this subject… I can't kill myself”… blah blah blah.

But as I grew older, my thoughts reprogrammed. I discovered that in as much as an intelligent person will likely always do great in his/her academics, academic excellence doesn't measure intelligence. And a classmate of mine is a proof of this fact. Josh always had this flippant attitude and seemed a total dimwit when it came to school work.

On the other hand, he was deeply witted when it came to other fields. One of which is the field of computer and this earned him the nickname ”Tech guru”. More marveling, his grades in English were poor but his manner of speaking the language was too eloquent. He wasn't good at maths but he was a very calculative person. Overally, he was an intelligent guy but not academically.

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The sad part is that he wasn't recognized or given a chance to participate in school competitions or hold prefectship positions because the teachers couldn't see beyond his grades. He was only ever judged as a dull student.

We've also heard stories of some of today's billionaires who were drop outs but are intelligent in their respective fields. Remember Ben Carson was the dullest student in his class but today he's a renowned and intelligent neurosurgeon.

These and many more are reasons why I believe school and grades do not measure intelligence. But does that mean school is useless? Of course not! We all still need education to advance our knowledge and intelligence, be it formal or informal education. Going to school is very important and necessary, yes but it won't make you intelligent. Why? Well, because intelligence in innate. Everyone is born intelligent but it's the effort we put into developing it that causes variations in IQ. Other reasons for variations or limitations might be due to mental health issues.

Asides schooling, there are other things we can do to develop intelligence and they include:

• Changing our belief system.

The first step in developing our intelligence is by changing our belief system on the concept of intelligence. We must first believe in our capacity and the possibility of becoming better.

• Constant challenge.
  
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This simply means challenging our brains by learning and partaking in something different everyday. You could solve puzzles, riddles and word problems, learn a new language, learn a new skill, retake that test untill you get it all right, read a book, practice your skills daily, exercise, etc. It doesn't always have to be related to our field. Just simply craving new knowledge and experience is enough to advance our IQ.

• Prioritizing our brain health.

We're too focused on other things that we sometimes forget to take care of our brains. Our brain health matters a lot too and we can care for it by eating the right food that'll give us the required nutrient (protein, vitamin B, etc) for boosting brain cells. We also shouldn't forget to get plenty of rest and meditate as often as we can.

In conclusion, academic excellence is good but it doesn't measure intelligence. We're all intelligent and worth more than the grades in our result sheets. It just requires effort and dedication to advance our intelligence capacity and we must believe in that possiblity.

P.S. This post is in response to the @hive-learners weekly posting topics for week 31 edition 1 on the title “INTELLIGENCE”.

Lead image is mine and edited by me using Canva.

THANKS FOR READING! ❤️