#preloggedinto

If there's one thing I can't stand it's the fact that people consider themselves unintelligent or even stupid for failing their exams, or getting bad marks, or not being good at maths and whatnot. Unfortunately, I've been living in this world, surrounded by people, for sixteen years now and, observing the other humans, I've reached the conclusion that all of us are intelligent – all of us are better at something than the rest, and we should not call each other or ourselves stupid. According to Howard Gardner, a famous guy who even wrote a book on this topic, there are 8 types of intelligence, although I believe that there are more. The aforementioned types include: musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, verbal-linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence, and naturalistic intelligence. You have probably heard of the logical-mathematical or verbal-linguistic intelligence, but what about the rest? The thing is that the rest are not considered to be 'intelligences'. To clarify: you've probably never heard of anyone saying that someone is intelligent for sports. They are just 'sports people'. However, we all know of at least one 'math genius' who is admired by everyone for their ability to solve various equations. Furthermore, you've probably never heard of someone saying 'Oh, they sing beautifully, they are so musically intelligent!'. No, they just sing beautifully, regardless of the fact that they are able to pitch everything perfectly. On the other hand, there's always that 'linguistic genius' who writes essays for breakfast and poems for dinner, who always reads books and knows the meaning of 'floccinaucinihilipilification'. When someone who is into music gets an F in Maths, they consider themselves stupid, but, vice-versa, when a 'maths kid' gets an F in Music, they are just 'poor and untalented', but it's okay since they kill at algebra. Are the ones who are good at languages and maths smarter than those who are good at sports and music? According to most people – they most certainly are! Why? Well, the reason, of course, is the fact that our school system isn't that good. Think about it: the only subjects we are graded in are languages (mother tongue, foreign language, Latin, another foreign language...), science (Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, Computer Science, Biology...) and History and Geography, which test our memory not connected to any specific type of intelligence.   So, someone's musical intelligence won't really help them when they are graded in calculating the probability of finding an electron in an atom but the logical-mathematical intelligence surely will. It doesn't sound fair, does it? Sadly, this leads to even more problems. Our beautiful grading system doesn't even allow children to discover their intelligence and develop it. If someone is a genius for 'interpersonal interactions', which means that they have wonderful social skills, where exactly are they going to develop them? In Computer Science while learning to program? Yes, of course, there are appropriate jobs for every type of intelligence but the thing I dislike the most is the fact that children spend their whole childhood not knowing that they are good at something just because we are constantly putting them in the same box as everyone else and grading everyone in the same fashion. Some are born so intelligent that they're able to write books and solve Physics problems, but don't forget the others who are born so intelligent that they are able to understand themselves deeply, to understand others and their emotions, to score 10/10 in basketball, to remember every melody... And we should never underestimate them; moreover, we should celebrate their existence!

The pencil dances across her test while answers quickly appear in her brain.

She writes them in minutes but she's never finished because there's always that one answer she just can't reach.

In agony, she stares at empty lines thinking of all the dreams passing by.

"How will I ever enrol at college if I can't remember a simple definition of mortgage?"

As she tries to reach the answer, the bell rings, the teacher starts collecting the sheets and so she hangs in her hopes and dreams.

The final exams are almost complete but what if she doesn't get the grade she needs?

The teacher comes back, bringing the tests, while she tries not to have a panick attack.

"You've failed", the teacher says but she doesn't cry because she no longer cares.

"But you had the potential to be something great", her mother says when she sees the marked exam.

She tries to study for the next test but the bitter memory of the last one is still there and the failing mark hangs in front of her face.

But she cannot change the way she did, so everyone else could simply deal with it.

Exams aren't easy and cause a lot of stress but so does life, so it's better to get prepared.

Study hard, make sure it's your best, but even if you fail one, you'll still go far because your marks will never define who you truly are.

"The further we go in life, the less innocent we become but it depends on us whether we embrace the darkness (or not)."