INTELLIGENCE

The year 2020 was a very challenging year for all of us. It was a year that we all wished and prayed for peace, security and good health. It was a year that taught us to slow down, to reflect and to value things that really matter in life. Praise God Almighty and with the intercession of our Mother of Perpetual Help, Mama Mary, we survived the year 2020. Our strong faith and resilience made us face the challenges squarely.

Definitely, this is intelligence inherent in us, human beings. So, on my first article for this year 2021, i wish to walk you through on the nine types of intelligence as described by Howard Gardner.

He describes them as follows:

  1. Naturalistic Intelligence – this refers to the “Nature Smart”, the human ability to discriminate among living things as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world. This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers. It continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef
  1. Musical Intelligence – this refers to the ” Musical Smart”. This is our capacity to discern pitch, rhythm , timbre , and tone. This intelligence enables us to recognize, create, reproduce, and reflect on music as demonstrated by composers, conductors, musicians, vocalists and sensitive listeners
  1. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence – This refers to the “Number/Reasoning Smart”. This is our ability to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses and to carry out complete mathematical operations. For the young adults, these are the people with lots of logical intelligence who are interested in patterns, categories and relationships. They are drawn to arithmetic problems, strategy games and experiments.
  1. Existential Intelligence – This refers to our sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence such as the meaning of life, why do we die and how did we get here.
  1. Interpersonal Intelligence – This is the “People Smart” person. This refers to the ability to understand and interact effectively with others. This intelligence involves effective verbal and nonverbal communication, the ability to note distinctions, sensitivity to the moods and temperaments of others and the ability to entertain multiple perspectives. The  young adults with this kind of intelligence are leaders among their peers, are good at communicating and in understanding others’ feelings and motives
  1. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence – This is the “Body Smart” person, the person who has the capacity to manipulate objects and use a variety of physical skills. This kind includes the athletes, dancers, surgeons and craftspeople who exhibit well-developed bodily kinesthetic intelligence.
  1. Linguistic Intelligence – This is the “Word Smart” person. This is the person who has the ability to think in words and to use language to express and appreciate complex meanings. This intelligence allows us to understand the order and meaning of words and to apply meta- linguistic skills to reflect on our use of language. This is the most widely shared human competence and is evident in poets, novelists, journalists and effective public speakers. The young adults with this kind of intelligence enjoy writing, reading, telling stories and doing crossword puzzles. 
  1. Intra-personal intelligence – This refers to the “Self Smart” person who has the capacity to understand oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings and to use such knowledge in planning one’s life. The young adults belonging to this group may be shy and they are very aware of their own feelings and are self motivated. This is evident among psychologists, spiritual leaders and philosophers.
  1. Spatial Intelligence – This refers to the “Picture Smart” person who has the ability to think in three dimensions with core capacities that include mental imagery, spatial reasoning, image manipulation, graphic and artistic skills. This type of intelligence is evident among sailors, pilots, sculptors, painters and architects. The young adults with this intelligence may be fascinated with mazes or jigsaw puzzles or spend time drawing or daydreaming

So my dear parents and teachers, it is my ardent desire for you to observe each and every child and know his/her  uniqueness and passion in life. Let us all help to develop allow him/her to develop fully. Let us avoid the “hurried child syndrome”, one that is pressured to do things before he is mentally ready.

On behalf of my family: my dearest son GM and my Tatay Dodong, i wish you all a very happy new year!