Many believe that hierarchies limit intelligence. This is shown in Cathy Davidson’s “Project Classroom Makeover,” Azar Nafisi’s “Lolita in Tehran,” and Karen Ho’s “Biographies of Hegemony. Davidson discusses how formal education limits the knowledge individuals obtain. Nafisi explores how hard it is for individuals to imagine and learn due to the Islamic Country of Iran. Ho investigates businesses that dictate what intelligence is without allowing others to consider it for themselves. All three authors discuss hierarchies and how they define intelligence. Without a hierarchy, individuals grow and acquire different values.
Hierarchies control individuals which limit their ideas. Davidson shows this when describing formal education. Davidson
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Davidson shows this when she explains how “formal education typically teaches hierarchies of what’s worth paying attention to” which shows that individuals are forced to learn what hierarchies think as important (Davidson 51). Davidson implies that since formal education teaches individuals of what’s important this limits the likelihood of learning in new ways. Having different learning mechanisms is very important to Davidson; she views this as a way to obtain knowledge. However, individuals cannot obtain knowledge because hierarchies are limiting individuals to have a specific learning mechanism. This specific learning mechanism therefore limits their skills because they are not able to use their own mechanism. This is shown in the high expectations that the hierarchies have when it comes to standardized tests. This high expectation “narrows the spectrum of skills that we test in schools” thereby limiting their understanding (Davidson 61). The hierarchies tell students what and how they should understand in class. If these individuals do not understand the material they are labelled as failures. These students who have failed may have skills that are not tested. Cathy Davidson states how “more and more kids who have skills …show more content…
Hierarchies teach what’s worth paying attention to. This is apparent in Nafisi and Ho’s texts. Their subjects are led to focus on the way they present themselves. For example, Nafisi states how “rituals governing what I was forced to wear, how I was to act, and the gestures I had to remember to control” (Nafisi 283). Nafisi shows that the Islamic State of Iran is controlling her actions and her only way of expression; her clothes. Nafisi shows that Iran is limiting her imagination by limiting her expression. Self-expression is a form of imagination. Nafisi shows the rush of imagination she feels when “trying on different outfits, until I finally settled on a red-striped shirt and black corduroy jeans. I applied my make up with care and put on bright red lipstick” (Nafisi 285). Nafisi’s use of color connects her clothing to art, and therefore to self-expression. By limiting her expression they are thereby limiting her imagination. This is shown in the uniformity of clothes that the women wear. Nafisi was shocked by “seeing them shed their mandatory veils and robes and burst into color” (Nafisi 281). For so many years these women have been controlled by the hierarchies in which narrowed down the
A famous quote by Martin Luther King states “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” The two articles “Hidden Intellectualism” and “Blue Collar Brilliance” both emphasis the author's opinion on the qualifications and measurements of someone's intelligence. “Hidden Intellectualism” focuses on students or younger people who have trouble with academic work because, they are not interested in the topic. Today, in schools students are taught academic skills that are not very interesting, the author mentions this is why children are not motivated in schools. The main viewpoint of this article is that schools need to encourage students
In “The Meaning of Adornment,” a sub-chapter within “Distinction and Display in the Visiting Scene,” Meneley explains how important adornment (fashion) is for Zabidi women. The women made sure that they publicly dress too impressed because they know that their families and themselves will be judged (Meneley 1996: 109). Zabidi women become the active participators when they dress appropriately to their culture to ensure their families’
In “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff pens an impressive argument wrought from personal experience, wisdom and heart. In his essay, Graff argues that street smarts have intellectual potential. A simple gem of wisdom, yet one that remains hidden beneath a sea of academic tradition. However, Graff navigates the reader through this ponderous sea with near perfection.
He professes: “We set out to determine what a child knows in order to tailor instruction, but we frequently slot rather than shape, categorize rather than foster. And the poorer the kids are- the less power their parents have- the more likely are their chances of being, as Lillian put it, hurt about their intelligence.” This portion of the passage really stuck out to me for many reasons. In this part of the passage I am brought back to the beginning of the book when Rose, himself, was put on the remedial track because his file was misplaced with another individuals file; Rose’s parents had minimal education themselves, didn’t know what to say or do in the situation. If the test would have been used to tailor and shape, the teachers would have known that he wasn’t supposed to be on the vocational track. Also, this reminded me of the ACT and SAT testing, a common standardized test that is used for college acceptance. The American education system relies on the test to show the intelligence of a person when all the test accomplishes is how well a person can
With such a unanimous resentment, particularly in the dominating religious sect of Iran, it is important to address the ideologies within the religion enforce the country’s patriarchal social structure, i.e. the “form of social organization in which males dominate females” (text 38). Furthermore, with the Islamic Revolution of 1979, these attitudes were the driving force behind many of the discriminatory laws that confined women in Iran to a life defined by its limitations.
Traditional theories of intelligence do not account for the ambiguity of classes such as philosophy or for the wide range of interests a child can have. For example, contemporary theories such as Sternberg’s Theory of Intelligence and Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences both account for more than the general intelligence accounted for in traditional intelligence theories. According to Robert Sternberg’s Successful (Triarchic) Theory of Intelligence, are Hector’s difficulties in philosophy indicative of future difficulties in the business world? According to Sternberg’s Theory of Intelligence, Hector’s difficulty in philosophy will not negatively affect his future. Sternberg would instead focus on elements of successful intelligence like Hector’s involvement and contribution as an individual, as opposed to relying on intelligence measured by tests.
Howard Gardner used to define intelligence as “the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings” (Gardner 33). The modern day human being would most likely include the words “smart” and “dumb” in their definition of intelligence. Gardner questioned the belief of only one intelligence so he created his own theory that involved seven different discoveries. He didn’t want to call these discoveries “skills” or “talents” or gifts” because those all suggested a drawback so he decided on the word “intelligence,” creating his theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner 33). Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences including, linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal, has many implications for modern education and culture.
Standardized tests cover certain material, which gives teachers something specific to teach. This is helpful, in that it allows teachers to know exactly what to teach. It also sets up a goal for the teachers, which is to get the students to pass. However, this process leaves something to be desired. Because the test is so important to the future of the students, teachers, and school, helping students to pass test becomes the most important part of their schooling. This restricts the educators from teaching students about things that are more important. College is usually next step for students after high school so it would seem logical that high school prepares them for college, but teachers are so busy preparing students for the test that they are not preparing them for the future. Consequently, students arrive at college ill-prepared, with shallow educations (Gitlin).
Freire believes that the “more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented reality deposited in them” (73). Percy claims that this dependency stems from the belief that “sovereignty [must be] surrendered to a class of privileged knowers” (54). Freire believes that due to this loss of sovereignty, the ones with authority attempt to “indoctrinate[e] them to adapt to the world of oppression” (78). Consequences begin to mount as students begin to mold into the world of oppression. Freire’s strongest belief is that, due to the banking system, a student simply becomes “the possessor of a consciousness: an empty ‘mind’ passively open to the reception of deposits of reality from the world outside” (75). This mentality causes students to become constricted thinkers, or mindless robots, only letting the engineer program predetermined ideas that the engineer deems them fit enough to know. “What has taken place,” claims Percy, “is a radical loss of sovereignty” among the students because in the way education is currently being utilized, educators perceive that knowledge can simply be placed into students, however, this method is sorely inhumane
In “Hidden Intellectualism”, author and professor Gerald Graff describes his idea of what book smarts and streets smarts actually are. He details how new ideas can help to teach and build our educational system into something great and that perhaps street smarts students could be the factor that traditional education is missing that could make it great.
The religion of Islam was imposed upon Iranians, whether they liked it or not. Marjane and her classmates “...didn’t like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to”(Satrapi 3). The young girls were against wearing the veil because they were not practicing
The way they dressed quickly changed as shown when Marji asserted that “In no time, the way people dressed became an ideological sign. There were two kinds of women. The fundamentalist woman [and] the modern woman. There were also two sorts of men. The fundamentalist man [and] the progressive man” (75). Satrapi uses the two frames on page 75 to illustrate the idea associated with the two different ways in which both men and women chose to dress whether it be tradition, or not. Satrapi expounds how their choice of dressing then depicts their view on the Islamic Revolution. She explains how the modern women rebelled by wearing heard scarves, instead of the traditional full veil, along with letting some hair slightly fall out to show opposition against the Iranian regime. She continues with how the progressive man also showed their opposition by tucking their shirts in and shaving their facial hair, in contrast to the fundamentalist man who leaves his shirt hung out, along with a full beard. Satrapi denotes that both genders of characters take the risk of not dressing like a fundamentalist, in order to show their form of rebellion in a settle way, knowing of course that there is always a possibility of
Gardner’s theory of MI offers an alternative view of intelligence which has measured intelligence based on the results that would predict success in the current educational system. Furham (2009) sums up Gardner’s definition as “the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings”. This definition suggests that human intelligence is comprised of more than the predictable success in a western school system. Gardner argues that traditional definitions of intelligence and intelligence testing are too narrow and marginalize people who do not fit traditional education system that focuses on visual–spatial, verbal–linguistic, and logical–mathematical intelligences. He supports this with unique cases of idiots savant, who are people with low IQs but excel in skills in areas not measured through tradition IQ tests (Arnett, 2013). MI theory proposes that individual’s intelligence can be differentiated on eight different modalities:
The study of IQ and how it operates in the education field has been argued through various theories. Theorist such as Howard Garner, R...
What the system fails to realize is that all minds are created differently. Davidson blames our failure rate in contemporary education on the ‘one-size fits all’ mentality. When she proclaims, “ — as we narrow the spectrum of skills that we test in schools, more and more kids who have skilled outside that spectrum will be labeled as failures.”, she is speaking out for the children who may not excel in a specific course but still have great potential in something else (Davidson 61). In today’s society it is crucial that high school students further their education into universities. Otherwise, not getting a degree will lead to not getting a job or stable career. However, institutionalized education does not have to be completely terminated. It is completely necessary for all children to receive an education for a basic understanding for necessities in life. Yet, there should be a certain age limit as to how far the education system can go. Instead of having standardized test approaches, like the SATs, that expel students who do not qualify to a certain ranking, it should be allowed to take a test to identify who you are as a person. In today’s society, we allow numbers to define who people are. Numbers are the first thing colleges see when potential students submit their applications. They review aspects such as GPAs, SAT scores, and class ranking to