In previous decades, many of
individuals might have survived on looks and image alone, however, since I
could remember, intelligence has been important and highly thought about in
forms of measurement for children. In fact, over the previous decades, adults
have researched their significant other’s intellect prior to procreating with
them in the attempts to reproduce a child with an extremely high intellect.
Therefore, these concerns and interests bring about the question of what is the
best way or idea of testing a child’s intelligence? “In ancient times, if an adult was strong and
fertile, that was enough, worthy of admiration” (Berger, 2014, p.334). “By the
twentieth century, however, cognitive abilities had become important; a stupid
person, even if strong and fertile, was not admired” (Berger, 2014, p.334).
“Because the mind became
increasingly significant, many ways to measure intellect were developed” (Berger,
2014, p. 334). However, theory has it “Aptitude
is the potential to master a specific skill or learn a certain body of
knowledge” (Berger, 2014, p. 334).Therefore, the IQ, and Achievement tests were
brought about. However, some of these tests brought about criticisms because “the
fact that scores change, a more fundamental question is whether any single test
can measure the complexities of the human brain” (Berger, 2014, p.335). Some Critics
and theorists suggest’ “One way to measure the mind might be to measure the
brain directly, avoiding the pitfalls of written exams or individual questions”
(Berger, 2014, p. 336).
Test results don't necessarily indicate
achievement, but rather, tend to be much
more accurate indicators of the size of a student's house or the income of the
student's parents. Research has indicated that the amount of poverty
found in a community, and other factors that have absolutely nothing to do with
what happens in the classroom, account for the great majority of differences in
test scores from one area to another.
Finland is a small country with the
share of its adult population with some sort of postsecondary education,
however, is rather large. Finland is also one of only two countries, the other
being Korea, in which the fields of social sciences, business and law are not
the most popular among students. In Finland, new entrants are most likely to
study engineering, manufacturing and construction. In Finland, belief is also
that, “Iintelligence is
such an elusive and relative concept that even the experts cannot agree on its
nature”.
In conclusion, people in Finland and many others believe intelligence depends
on many things: daily diet, physical and mental exercise, emotional state,
stress, and so on. It is not fixed or static, so one can improve it by a
combination of techniques that suit the individual. In spite of the developments
in cognitive science and medicine, measuring intelligence is still in its
crawling stage and open for research.
Reference:
http://skeptikai.com/2012/04/16/the-ten-most-educated-and-smartest-countries-in-2012/
Berger, K.S. (2014). The developing person
through childhood (6th ed. pp 334-337).
New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
