A yellow house
When I was in St Johns, Newfoundland with Chris, we wandered around the battery houses (so called because there are a lot of them close together; think battery hens) on the side of Signal Hill. These houses are great - they are painted bright colours, and have all kind of ingenious contraptions designed to make living on the side of a cliff possible, if not yet terribly practical. One of these houses stood out, and not just because it was painted bright yellow. At the bottom of the staircase was a notice that read: "Never confuse education with intelligence." A good warning, and one worth further consideration. We have all met or all know (or can all imagine) people well educated but lacking intelligence.
I think I have a good memory. I am good at memorising lists of things, strings of numbers, music, etc. Revising for exams was, for me, predominantly an exercise for the memory. Other people I know take another approach, that once a concept is understood - properly digested and broken down - then there is no need for further memory, as a problem can be thought through and worked out from the knowledge of the concepts. While the purpose of this little note today is not to discuss different learning techniques, I am convinced that the better method is the latter - it is better to know well what you are talking about, than to know well what someone else has said on the subject. This could be an example of the difference between education and intelligence, as intelligence and useful knowledge is only gained by the understanding of concepts; and even though just memorisation may have gained me the higher exam grades, in the long run I am the one worse off.
- Posted by flyingkiwi on 16/07/2006.
- flyingkiwi's site
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