Rethinking Education: Rewarding High Intelligence in the Flawed System

[Inquiring_Mike]

I'm a grade 12 student and I have always thought that our education system was flawed(I'm from Canada, although I believe the US have the same problem). I think what is wrong with our system is the rewarding of students with average IQ's with excellent work ethics. I believe that students with high IQ's or natural intelligence should be rewarded just as much or more than the hard working students. I've noticed that within my grade and school that many of the naturally smart students have been turned off from school because of average grades. I don't know about you but I think I would rather have a smarter man/woman performing a surgery on myself or defending me in a court of law...But hey, what do I know I only have an 82% average...


P.S. I realize that there are many other reasons for the poor education system...

 

[Zero]

I would say that a related problem is that students are rewarded more for memory than intellect. Students don't think about facts, they commit them to memory, regurgitate them for the test, and then forget them.

 

[Shadow]

Of course our education system is flawed. For example, I speak and write in spanish very well, and I am one of the smartest in my class. I get high grades on tests, projects, average homework asignments. You know, that stuff. But my teacher also graded us on organization. How much crap is that? I got graded on organization, although I am not a very organized person. I got such a poor grade because I wasn't organized that it brought my average down 10 points giving me an 81% in spanish where I would have had a 91%. The next semester, I did do better at getting more organized but I still ended that semester with a 87%. You know what's funny though? My teacher did not grade us on our "organization" skills in one semester and I got a 98%. Funny how she didn't notice the difference.

Anyways, it depends which category you ar esaying you are in. I admit that sometimes I am lazy, and I haven't studied for a test in years, because I just do well on tests. Anyways, GPA (grade point average) for this past year never went below a 93% and went as high as a 96%, I stay in that range all the time. So I think that is pretty fair in my school district. I do homework and do well on tests. And I pay attention in class if its interesting enough.

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by Shadow
Of course our education system is flawed. For example, I speak and write in spanish very well, and I am one of the smartest in my class. I get high grades on tests, projects, average homework asignments. You know, that stuff. But my teacher also graded us on organization. How much crap is that? I got graded on organization, although I am not a very organized person. I got such a poor grade because I wasn't organized that it brought my average down 10 points giving me an 81% in spanish where I would have had a 91%. The next semester, I did do better at getting more organized but I still ended that semester with a 87%. You know what's funny though? My teacher did not grade us on our "organization" skills in one semester and I got a 98%. Funny how she didn't notice the difference.

Anyways, it depends which category you ar esaying you are in. I admit that sometimes I am lazy, and I haven't studied for a test in years, because I just do well on tests. Anyways, GPA (grade point average) for this past year never went below a 93% and went as high as a 96%, I stay in that range all the time. So I think that is pretty fair in my school district. I do homework and do well on tests. And I pay attention in class if its interesting enough.

And there is not a whole lot to engage you, is there? Lots of daydreaming while the teacher speaks?

I had an English teacher who graded us on how well we could copy her notes word for word. I guess that is easier than making sure we actually knew anything, isn't it?

 

[Hurkyl]

I don't know about you, but I'd rather be operated upon by an average doctor with hundreds of successes under his belt than a brilliant doctor who has only been in the operating room once or twice.



Having the work ethic is just as important as having the intelligence. Neither one is all that great without the other one... being a diligent worker is useless if you don't have a clue what you're doing, and being brilliant is useless if you don't apply yourself.

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by Hurkyl
I don't know about you, but I'd rather be operated upon by an average doctor with hundreds of successes under his belt than a brilliant doctor who has only been in the operating room once or twice.



Having the work ethic is just as important as having the intelligence. Neither one is all that great without the other one... being a diligent worker is useless if you don't have a clue what you're doing, and being brilliant is useless if you don't apply yourself.

Then wouldn't the flaw be in the schools, for not challenging the students?

 

[Hurkyl]

I certainly didn't mean to imply that the education system is in good shape.

 

[Inquiring_Mike]

Work Ethic

I'm not saying that work ethic is not important, as I know it is. However, when unintelligent people take high profile jobs I believe that higher intelligent people with moderate work ethic will do better. (As higher intelligent people, as zero said, will be more likely to actually think about what they have learned rather than some of the lower intelligent people who will just remember something for a test). As in Shadow's case, does it really make sense to punish someone's grade just because they have poor organization? I think that grades should be comprised of tests/projects/exams and other things like organization and other work ethic skills should be evaluated separtely. Then admissions to certain programs post- sec. could choose whether or not to look at these work ethic skills 'grades?

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by Inquiring_Mike
I'm not saying that work ethic is not important, as I know it is. However, when unintelligent people take high profile jobs I believe that higher intelligent people with moderate work ethic will do better. (As higher intelligent people, as zero said, will be more likely to actually think about what they have learned rather than some of the lower intelligent people who will just remember something for a test). As in Shadow's case, does it really make sense to punish someone's grade just because they have poor organization? I think that grades should be comprised of tests/projects/exams and other things like organization and other work ethic skills should be evaluated separtely. Then admissions to certain programs post- sec. could choose whether or not to look at these work ethic skills 'grades?

Well, I don't know...a certain amount of organization should be required...as a small part of your grade. You've got to be able to put together the big picture, you know? Learning raw information, ability to understand what you memorize, and the ability to organize your thought in a way that other people can understand.

 

[Wasper]

You guys make great points. One thing I would like to add is that the education system (American) presses time on students too much. Often students are expected to write master pieces while being pressured to do it under an hour. I.E. They are now thinking of adding a section to the SAT , in which students are required to right an outstanding essay in only 30 minutes. I don't believe that the great works of individuals like Descarts or Voltaire were written in a few hours. It is usually expected that students are to think up of an essay in only 5 minutes , and using the rest of the time to write the essay. This tests basically how fast someone write , not how well they write.

Also , students are given too many variety of subjects to learn all at once. The schools' excuse for this is that it makes students more "rounded" invididuals , sure , but however it causes too much confusion. Students have to remember all of these different subjects while their teachers throw huge ammounts of information at them. The way the educational system should allow students to take courses that relates to the student's interest and career. My point is that more emphasis should be put on subjects that the student is interest in , while still making the student rounded by having the student take other subjects , but however , putting much less emphasis on it.

 

[Chemicalsuperfreak]

I disagree.

The IQ system is not meant to reward people with high IQ's. The whole purpose for the invention of the tests, which has been completely distorted over the years, was to find grade school aged students who are performing poorly, so that more attention can be given to get them up to speed.

Frankly, if somebody has a high IQ but doesn't do well in grades, then they should be smart enough to figure things out for themselves.

Furthermore, any halfwit can be a genius in high school. The real smart kids will be the ones doing all the work. Because when you get into advanced college classes a high IQ won't mean ****. It's the students with the combination of brains and work ethic that learn the material.

Unfortunately, I didn't figure this out until grad school.

So if you want to be really smart, kid, hit the books.

 

[Dissident Dan]

I wouldn't say that smarter people should be rewarded for being born smart, but I do agree that education needs some changes. As Zero said, it shouldn't be about regurgitation, but about real learning. And, we should have mandatory classes like logic, so that people actually know how to evaluate things.

If a person can make up for his lack of intelligence with diligence, then more power to him/her.

If you are smart and getting poor grades, then perhaps you should work on your character.