Multiple Intelligences - Arithmetic and Gardner - Essay Example

Arithmetic was not so bad in the elementary grades, and I did alright in those classes. Arithmetic was easy as 1-2-3. But algebra was not as easy as A-B-C, and I didn’t get why letters had to substitute for numbers when numbers were just fine for me. And trigonometry lost me; its use of Greek symbols spelled Greek to me.

But I do think a lot about people. People interest me, and I find them fascinating. It seems to me that people are the same everywhere in the world, despite differences in culture, faith, and ideologies. We nevertheless all agree where it matters. We all love our children and look after their welfare the best way we can. We all regard our parents with love and respect, even if we show it in different ways. And with the advent of the internet, we are all quickly gravitating towards a single culture. We swoon over the same movie stars and dance to the same music. We share common experiences even if we had never met. That’s why I feel I easily understand people. I am people-intelligent.

Also dance-intelligent, so to speak. When dance music plays, feet come to life, hips sway to the beat, and arms flail in the air. They say that we gain our sense of rhythm from the beating of our mothers’ hearts as we grew in the womb. Maybe so, in which case, there shouldn’t be any reason for people to say they were born with two left feet as an excuse for why they can’t dance. Unless they had two left feet. Not me. I was born to dance.

But most of all, I think that I am best at being a mom. No school could teach how one can be a good parent; you just are, or you aren’t. All the universities in the world could not teach a mother to understand the different ways her infant cries – that he has a different cry when he’s hungry, or irritated, or wet, or sick; or to calm him when he’s fussy, with the soft lilt of her lullaby; or to convey to him what it feels to be loved. All of that comes from within. Some people say it’s instinct. Naah, instinct is birds flying south for the winter or dogs marking the fire hydrant. A mother’s love is not instinct. It is, well, simply love, and nothing less.

Gardner may have been criticized by many of his colleagues in psychology for coming up with the theory of multiple intelligences seemingly on a whim. They said his theory was rhetorical, subjective, and lacked proof. Well, many teachers have come to better understand relating to students through his insights, and people have come to better understand themselves. I have come to understand myself better. I am not, after all, not unintelligent. Despite my clumsiness with math and my written essays such as this one, I realize that I have an innate understanding of people, music, dance, and relating to loved ones. These are intelligence, too. And through these, I can learn more about what is important in this world so that I can lead a fuller, more meaningful life.

I said I have never thought of myself as an extraordinarily intelligent person. That is not true now. I am intelligent and extraordinary in my way. By understanding the things that mean the most to me, in the way that makes the greatest sense, I can do much to make this a better world for my son. I will be sure to let him know that he is extraordinarily intelligent, too. Read More