When My Teacher Called Me Intelligent

Victoria Cantú

Sep 27, 2020

In high school I took a very interesting class about thinking skills. It focused on the mental processes our minds use to store information. Most people considered it a filler class, but I never saw it that way. In fact, I loved everything it covered.

I do not remember exactly which topic we were studying, but during one lesson the teacher said something like, "If you work on it, intelligence can continue to develop, and you can become more intelligent than you were before." The moment I heard that, I felt such a rush of anxiety that I could not stop myself from raising my hand and asking, "And if you do not work on developing your intelligence, can you lose it too?" She smiled and said yes, but told me not to worry, because if I kept asking those kinds of questions about everything I learned, I would not stop being as intelligent as I already was.

And yes, you can imagine how red I got after that compliment. From that point on, I have to admit I liked that teacher even more. But beyond the sentimental side of the story, what really stayed with me was the realization that I could become more intelligent and keep learning more and more about the world.

Whether I am reading a book, an article online, listening in class, or hearing a friend explain something, I am always asking questions about the ideas around the main topic. They may not be the central point, but they help me broaden my understanding and build a wider network of knowledge.

For example, and forgive the simplicity of the example, if I see a dog on the street and want to know its breed, I look it up online and I NEVER stop at the first answer I find. That answer may address my initial question, but it is never enough for me. I keep reading until I learn that the breed came from a mix of four others, then I look up each of those breeds, then the countries they came from, then the period in history when they were developed, and so on. I keep building a web of related ideas by asking: why? how? where? since when? for what purpose? is there something more? what if it had happened differently?

And that same network of ideas, which may seem useless in the moment, later helps me answer other questions and even helps me explain things to other people.

We should try not to settle for the bare minimum. We should stay curious, keep investigating, and make it a habit to go beyond the information we are handed. We are already living in a time where technology makes it easier than ever. With a fingertip, we can access almost any information we want. We should take advantage of that and use it to build more knowledge for ourselves and for others.

That way, even if we cannot precisely measure whether we are more intelligent than before, we can at least be sure that we are not becoming less capable, because we are continuing to work on our own growth and development. That alone is worth celebrating.

And just as my teacher made me feel good when she told me I was intelligent, and motivated me to keep asking those kinds of questions, I believe it is extremely important to let children know that they are intelligent and capable too. They have an entire world waiting to be discovered, and all they need to begin is a little curiosity and the willingness to explore it.