Never confuse education with intelligence

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
~ Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, an American author and humourist.

Sri Lanka has a population that is almost a hundred percent literate. Our people are, trained in the systematic development and cultivation of the mind and other natural powers. The process begins in our homes, extends to the nursery, continues through school and other institutions of higher learning and training; and also throughout life, whether we will or not. Thus, it could be safely said that in Sri Lanka, we have an educated population with only the degree of education varying. After all, in its general sense, education is a form of learning in which knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are, transferred from one generation to the next.

Intelligence, on the other hand, is the quality, exercise, or product of active intellect, readiness of comprehension, and the ability to exercise the faculty of higher mental functions.

This being so, can we say that Sri Lanka is also possessed of an intelligent populace? Do we have intelligent minds, skilled use of reason, and the capacity to grasp the significant factors of a complex problem or situation? There is a vast difference between education and intelligence; and there is much confusion in the world about the two. Both ideas involve knowledge; however, they are fundamentally different concepts.

Education is knowledge acquired in formal learning environments, such as school. Intelligence is that actual ability to learn, to acquire, assimilate, and use new knowledge. We are taught from the time we first enter school to judge someone's intelligence by their education.

This concept of, education equals intelligence is thrust on to us in such compelling manner; few people ever get totally past it, even as they grow older.

The fact is, one's schooling is no indication of one's wisdom, and in fact, education does often seem to be training to be stupid in the approved manner, whereas the goal of true education ought to be: training to utilise the available intelligence, and the enhancing of the character of an individual.

It is not necessary that if you have knowledge, you also have the wisdom. Once you will be able to raise the value of a human, this leads to wisdom.

Intelligence is innate and natural, and we are born with it.

Therefore, it involves our natural abilities. Education is an opportunity to be exposed to, mankind's collected knowledge, in a staged manner that goes from basic concepts to esoteric details, depending on the ability of the student and the length of time studying.

Thus, the difference between education and intelligence is that intelligence is, internal; they are skills and abilities that we have naturally in varying degrees; and education is, given to us externally through teachers, books, parents, life experience, and so on.

A person’s intelligence is the basic material utilised to educate, to shape him, and to develop his natural abilities. However, the more intelligent individuals learn more quickly and many types of learning have intelligence thresholds.

Hence, an intelligent person will likely learn more, and more complicated things, given the opportunity to become educated.

Nevertheless, it is also true that intuition often transcends the limitations of intelligence. “The most fertile soil does not necessarily produce the most abundant harvest.

It is the use we make of our faculties which renders them valuable,” said Thomas Wentworth Higginson, an American Unitarian minister, author, abolitionist, and soldier.

However, neither intelligence nor education alone can determine success in life.

There are many human qualities, which contribute and are necessary for attaining success. Diligence, talent, ambition, intelligence, education, socialisation, personality, physicality, to name a few, all play a part; but the contribution of intelligence is much larger than those other factors because intelligence is a basic need, which is necessary to get the most out of those other factors.

The other inherent intelligence and talents such as interpersonal, intra-personal, musical, spatial, ability to change, also have an enormous impact on life's outcomes. Thus, though other things besides intelligence matter; in the overall picture, nothing matters as much as intelligence. An intelligent person will try to become a man of values first. He knows success will follow the man who is possessed of values. “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value,” said Albert Einstein.

Most people see a successful person and only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices he had made to reach them. All successful people have had plans that failed, but none had ever failed to plan.

The intelligent people plan their life and do not let life drift. There is no elevator to success - you have to take the stairs, a step at a time, even though you may encounter many falls steps. The main thing is not to make failure an option, because then you have no choice but to succeed.

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. If you have to give up the fight, ensure that you give up on giving up and not the struggle. Accept failure, but never accept not trying - over and over if need be; and remember: success comes to those who realise you can keep one foot on the ground and reach for the stars at the same time.

I love this story about the high school basketball coach who was attempting to motivate his players to persevere through a difficult season. Halfway through the season he stood before the team and said:

“Did Micheal Jordan ever quit?”
The team responded: “No!”
He yelled, “What about Wright brothers? Did they ever give up?”
“No!” hollered back the team.
Did Muhammad Ali ever quit?”
Again, the team yelled, “No!”
“Did Elmer McAllister ever quit?”
There was a long silence.

Finally, one player was bold enough to ask, “Who is Elmer McAllister? We've never heard of him.”

The coach snapped back: “Of course you've never heard of him - he quit!”

Finally, just remember that you will never achieve your best by expecting the worst. So, be optimistic always. In the ultimate analysis, what matters is not what you do. It matters how you do it, why you do it, and what it does with you.

See you this day next week. Until then, keep thinking; keep laughing. Life is mostly about these two activities.

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