perception of intelligence

[Michael N]

Intelligence i always felt eluded me as a child. when I was young i was "diagnosed" with a learning disability after a 20 min "test"
they informed me that it would "take longer for me to do my homework, takes tests, learn information, and read" and guess what, I believed them.
For the next 12 years, I cheated on exams and gave up trying to be any kind of student. They continued to put me in intensive reading classes, even though i had a "reading ability of a college level student"
it wasn't until i actually owned my first business (yes, it took me accidentally owning a business for me to realize what my potential was. Thanks education system!)
my friend was an entrepreneur, and we would always bounce ideas off of each other. i never though i would pursue any ideas. i had bought into what i was told my whole life. i wouldn't be able to do it. I wasn't smart enough. I then started to read for 2 hours a day every day.
one day, in the same day, I had 2 individuals come to me for a job with business degrees, and another individual asked me to write them a letter of recommendation to the school i was rejected from because my SAT scores were so low (I was to busy running and playing call of duty to study.)
there I was, the dude who hadn't even received his AA yet, and people were coming to me. I was the producer, the employer, the dude who flipped a business and increased the numbers by 300% in 3 months.
I was the person who was reading everyday. I was the person who people went to for advise and employment. I started doing research on intelligence and the mind. I realized i thought differently than people. yeah I wasn't the kid who got strait A's, but I was was free from debt, diligent, objective, and cerebral, and wasn't relying on the education system to hopefully get me a $60,000 salary so i could own a mediocre home and never actually get to live my life, (not the idiot now, am I?)
my whole perception of intelligence was clouded by what people told me my whole life.
intelligence was a fixed variable. complete bull shit.
what has your guys journey been like in discovering your talents and intelligence?

 

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[AlexLegault]

http://www.bestsayingsquotes.com/files//genius-quotes-pictures-1-4c0ce944.jpg

This pretty much sums up my life during formal education.

 

[JohnZ123]

I can definitely relate. I did pretty bad in school and being in an asian family I'm sure you know how much emphasis they put on formal education. I've had many people tell me I couldn't succeed or I wouldn't get anywhere in life. One day I just said "fck these people" and began taking massive action. I dropped out of college/university to pursue entrepreneurship. Fast forward 3 years later, I now own several profitable e-commerce businesses. It has already been proven there are many forms of intelligence. Formal education is designed to create workers/employees not entrepreneurs.

 

[Late Bloomer]

I agree with those who say intelligence isn't one thing, it's maybe any of ten different ways a person can be really good at dealing with the world around them.

Some people are strong with words, abstract ideas, and book learning.

Some people are brilliant with animals. Some with construction and practical stuff. Some with medical actions. Some with music or art. Some with sports. And so on.

Our society and especially our education system tends to overrate the kinds of intelligence that are best handled in a lecture class plus sit in your seat kind of testing. But in real life, there are obviously people book smart and street dumb (hey, sometimes that's me!)... and vice versa.

I think it was Henry Ford who said, why would I want to memorize all those facts you're grilling me on, when I can pay someone who knows those answers to give them to me whenever I ring a bell?

 

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