Not at all. Why? Because “intelligence” can’t be measured simply by tests, paper and pen, etc. Intelligence, in my opinion, can’t even be defined properly because there are so many sides to intelligence, like a 30-sided dice.

There is book smarts. The ability to memorize and learn stuff from books. This is important in schools as in school there are tests, quizzes, and homework that is related to this kind of knowledge. Still, this is not the most important type of intelligence, just the type that many pay attention to. If you are book smart, you’ll be good at learning a lot of stuff that you might or might not need. Still, this I CAN’T emphasize enough, book smarts aren’t everything. It’s still important, but it’s hogging the spotlight.

The state tests that we have to do each year won’t test our creativity or artistic talents. But book smart is VERY important if you wish to get a job that needs a college degree or any job at all. BUT don’t let your shortcomings completely overshadow your strengths.

Creativity is another type of intelligence. Today we imagine Albert Einstein as this amazing genius with limitless knowledge. He is a genius, but he’s far from having limitless knowledge. He thinks outside of the box and so do many other people. I use to have this friend who could do Sudoku so fast that it was scary. He could do dozens while I couldn’t even do one. He has a lot of creativity, and as the great Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

Of course, Einstein also had bad grades and refused to learn things that he deemed worthless so if you want to get into an Ivy League college, you really shouldn’t rely on your creativity alone as every college in the Ivy League would have rejected Einstein had he applied to them (in their terms, he is a bad student).

Music. It isn’t just vibrations that sound that we like to listen to. It’s the expression of our souls. It is communication and it is the universal language. The same goes for art. And poets. People who spend all day studying think with their brains; artists speak with their heart. Art is so very important, and also so very mistreated. It is what gives people the right to express, it isn’t just part of the 1st amendment, it IS the 1st amendment. It can break down a fascism. It can melt hearts of stone. It should not be forced. Art comes from the soul and you can’t just force the soul to vomit out art (well you can but it won’t be a pretty sight). It is part of what makes us human. Art.

Wisdom. When you hear that word, you might think old guys who sit around telling a few catchy phrases here and there, but wisdom is so much more. It is knowing right from wrong, it is about making good choices rather than bad choices, and it is about, well I can’t explain it. Wisdom is very important and it is in a way unique for everybody because everybody has a different way of looking at things.

And finally, there is people smarts. The ability to help people in the best way possible and being able to comfort them. To listen to them. It is by far one of the most important intelligence because compassion is more important than all the knowledge in the world. It makes us unique in our kind because we WANT to help others. Would you rather have somebody show off his/her great intellect or would you have somebody help you in your time of need?

The main message of this is to not be narrow-minded. There are SO many ways to succeed in this world that you shouldn’t prejudge or discriminate against somebody simply because that person isn’t very good at one type of intelligence. Sometimes the rock you throw out is a diamond.