Intelligence Case

Flipping through my Calculus notes, I was contemplating which formula to apply. I was frustrated; my head was beginning to throb, but why was I bothering to look for a formula? It couldn't be that simple. Mathematics used to be easy and straightforward, but now I had to think outside of the box, and manipulate what seemed to be everything! Every other math class I had before was upfront, all I had to do was decipher which formula to use and I would be done. I was well educated. Now in order for me to pass this class, I had to have a sense of intelligence.

How would one define intelligence? A dictionary would simply define it as the faculty of understanding or the manifestation of a high mental capacity; however is it that simple to define? Defining any abstract idea clearly isn't an easy task to take on; many people either can't define it or confuse it with another idea, such as: intelligence vs. education.

Any individual is capable of being educated and acquiring knowledge, but only some individuals are capable of using their knowledge in any given situation to solve a given obstacle. That is intelligence. For example, there are many high school students who take AP and IB courses, many of them believe that taking these courses will guarantee them the acceptance to a university and career. It is in fact a wise choice in taking these courses, but the choices and decisions they make in the future is what will guarantee them their career, not the courses. There are in fact students that never received a high school degree, and they became very successful. There are also students who graduated from a four-year university and are not doing as well as the 'dropout'. At first judgment, one would say that the four-year college graduated was intelligent and the 'drop-out' was not. But in this case it was not accurate. The four-year college graduate had a good education, but not a good sense of intelligence; however the 'drop-out' didn't have such a good education, but a great sense of intelligence.

Many would argue that intelligence is how many facts a person can retain in his or her head. For instance, Albert Einstein was able to hold many facts in his head, so would that make him intelligent? It is generally a fact to say that Einstein was a genius, far more than just intelligent. But to call someone intelligent just because they can recollect a large amount of facts would not be a right thing to do. For example my uncle can tell you anything you want to know about corn, since he is a farmer, but would that make him intelligent just because he knows facts about corn? Many say it wouldn't. Intelligence doesn't always have to mean scholar knowledge, but also knowledge of skill.

The defining of intelligence could vary from individual to individual, but the understanding of intelligence is typically confused with knowledge or one who is well-educated. Intelligence