Intelligence is a social construct

At age three, I started reading and memorizing lengthy poems and prayers. They said, before, that I was a gifted child because of that talent. I won’t mention that my milk was Promil, the milk that produces genius as what the ad in the television says. I started schooling at that same age. I was the youngest yet I was able to perform well in class even surpassing the academic performance of my other classmates.

When I reached Grade One, my teacher doesn’t want to accept me because I am underage but my parents insisted and so did I. Next thing I found myself inside aroom full of children aged 6, most are tall and talkative. Since my sister and I studied at the same time, we were classmates since nursery. She wasn’t a caring sister that time, probably due to immaturity. I am a very quiet person; well sometimes I get a little noisy, compared to my sister. At times, people find me sitting alone, ever solemn and it’s as if I have my own world where I explore things, alone, while my sister is playing hide and seek, even playing spiders and jolen.

You know what is the disadvantage of having a parent that is a teacher? It’s when people expect a lot from you. They think that you’re intelligent enough to know everything because your parent is a teacher, which is not true at times.

Intelligence matters to people nowadays. When applying for a job, a person must have good communication skills and good academic performance (meaning the person has good grades), among others. Even in schools, intelligence matters. As what they say, “In UP, the stratification isn’t based on ones wealth but with ones intellectual capability.

How then should we judge if someone is intelligent or not? Through IQ tests or from his /her grades in school, or the ability to use the knowledge one has? People have created different criteria to measure ones intellectual capacity, but how sure are we that they are right? I, for one, don’t believe that some people are stupid and have low IQ. People will always excel in one thing if not all. We all have that x factor because we have brains. We just have to get them working. Work, brain! Yeah!

Now what should I tell you? I believe that intelligence is a social construct. During the primitive stage, the intelligence of a person wasn’t measured. It didn’t matter. No one is called stupid or fool. No one is adored because of his good intellectual ability. Then the idea of intellect came, which also became a weapon to oppress and discriminate people. In our society, observe who are the intellectuals. They are mostly the wealthy ones because they have access to knowledge. Yes, you heard me right. Have you ever heard of people hoarding knowledge? I’m not referring to people who hide books in the library when you need them, or to people who pretend not to know things when you ask them about it. Capitalists hoard knowledge in different ways. Sometimes, they don’t publicize new discoveries; say a cure for AIDs, because they want to be the sole supplier of that drug. They want total control or monopoly. Intelligent people are also being used by capitalists for their gain.

Intelligence matters because of society’s standard particularly because of the capitalist system. We need people who are intelligent because they are the machinery to think and produce something new for the consumerist society.

The bottom line is that intelligence is a social construct. I’m not sure if I am able to write my point. Now, I don’t care if I’m intelligent or not. What matters is that, whatever it is that I learn in school and in my organization, I apply it in practice. That’s what learning and intellect is all about.

Activism in the Web

I learned using the computer when I was in my third year high school. That’s pretty much late because compared with other nationalities, say Americans, they learn using computers at a very early age. But here in the Philippines, there are still children who haven’t seen computers and cell phones. The most modern gadget they have seen could be an old model of a radio with antenna, or maybe a television set that is half screen. I could just imagine how amaze they would be at the sight of an airplane, or how curious they would be seeing a machine talking. That is the pressing reality. While few privileged people have access to different high tech gadgets, the other half, even the majority of the populace is left in complete ignorance.

My younger sister who is in Grade three has this computer lesson. She’s luckier than me. She is studying in a private school, which, most often than not, have complete technology or more technologically advance.

I’m not into net surfing and stuffs like that before. I really think it’s a waste of time, MONEY and energy. The most trivial thing I did in the net is to have a friendster account. Well up to now I still have an account. Friendster is an online community. It’s a virtual place where people can meet, be friends (or even lovers), etc.

Lately, I had this addiction with blogging. Blog is an online diary where you can write everything you want, and I mean everything. It became a venue for people to write their thoughts and ideas. As for me, I want to use (and I will use) the internet as a venue to voice whatever is in my mind that is socio-politically and economically related. And here applies what we call internet activism or cyber activism. I’m not saying that this is the right and the only way to be politically involved, but this could be a way to reach out thousands and even millions of net users around the globe not to mention that this is the fastest way to disseminate information and propagandize stuff you advocate.

I’m still an activist after all, just trying to exhaust every means available to promote my cause.