Intelligence, Intellect and 'Smart'

I far too often witness the senseless conflation of these 3 words, so I thought I ought to define them for all of you. Defining words has become one of my most fun intellectual exercises as of late. There are way too many words, especially words outlining social constructs, that we seem to take for granted or don't think critically enough of. Unfortunately the dictionary is probably the shittiest definer of words that I've ever seen and it enrages me it has any authority at all. So naturally, I've taken it upon myself to become my own dictionary :). My guiding principle for constructing definitions is a pragmatic one, it's about finding the most useful interpretation of the word. The most useful interpretation is the one that helps me understand human nature the best.

The reason why I want to explain my definitions for these three words comes from a place of deep compassion. As an educator (yes, I educate young minds for a living, I'm pretty good at it I hear) of math and science I far too often hear my students call themselves 'stupid'. They assess their 'smartness' or their stupidity solely on their academic prowess. Their marks or their level of understanding on abstract concepts is the only true dictator of how smart they are. I cannot stand this. It absolutely breaks my heart that so many of my students truly think that they are stupid just because calculus doesn't click for them right away. Or they may think that they are stupid if they have a learning disability. Diagnosed learning disabilities are cancerous to me as well because they are diagnosed under the false pretense that academia and learning are one in the same. It should be redefined as an academic learning disability. Enough ranting, I'll have many posts in the future about my education system qualms.

Intelligence is your ability to store and process information. Highly intelligent people are filled to the brim with facts, figures and little tidbits and they are extremely good at recalling that information and using it to perform various tasks.

Intellect is more of a personality thing, associated with openness. I define it as the tendency to make abstract connections with the information already stored in your brain. Intelligent people are not necessarily intellectual. While intelligent people have a lot of stuff crammed in their brain ready to use for performance, like writing a math test or building a computer, they would only be considered intellectual by my standards if they had a fun time playing with that information in their heads. Intellect is all about having the best time ever playing jump rope with your thoughts and drawing connections between them. This is why intellectuals often enjoy philosophy and 'the big questions'. While intelligent people do not need to be intellectual, it makes sense to me that an intellectual person is probably intelligent as well. After all, it would be very tough to make abstract connections between your thoughts without having a large memory bank and brain processing power.

Smart is a different animal completely. To me, being smart is about making the right choices. A smart person makes choices and decisions that contribute to their happiness. While intelligent and intellect can help one be smart, they are not necessarily required. I feel like if kids thought of smart in this way, they would have a lot more confidence. By viewing 'smartness' in this fashion, it becomes less about the brain you were born with and things that you cannot control, and more about making good choices and taking personal responsibility. This definition of smart puts you in the driver's seat for establishing your mental self worth. I always tell students that they aren't stupid if they do badly on a test because they did not understand the material, but they are stupid if they did not study or did not get help when they had a chance. I want to drive home the point to them that their choices determine how smart they are. Stupid is not an inability to add fractions, stupid is shoving a fork into an electrical socket.

An intellectual person who spends time hanging out in their heads all day without doing any work in the outside world is actually pretty stupid. This unfortunately explains yours truly all too well :(.

I hope that schools will bow down to my definitions one day and teach students all over the world the right way to think about being smart. Our current, academically-narrow definition is a poison that is diminishing the confidence of our future generations.