by Proteen

Everybody is a Genius

DO YOU HAVE

A PET AT HOME?

I have Goldie. It’s been 6 months since I brought him home.
But unlike my neighbor’s pet, he has not able to learn any tricks.
I have been teaching him to climb a tree but to my utter frustration, it’s been many months now and yet he hasn’t been able to even climb out of his bowl.


SHOCKED?

Of course, this story is not true. I just wanted you to imagine what Albert Einstein once famously said:
EVERYBODY IS A GENIUS. BUT IF YOU JUDGE A FISH BY ITS ABILITY TO CLIMB A TREE, IT WILL LIVE ITS WHOLE LIFE BELIEVING THAT IT IS STUPID.
– ALBERT EINSTEIN
If you believe that this quote is just a hypothesis then think again. Isn’t this exactly how we often deal with our children?
The norm has been that the majority of children are assessed, and their near term future is decided based on their logical intelligence.

But, did you know that in Professor Howard Gardner’s world-renowned theory of multiple intelligences, the logical/mathematical intelligence is just one of its nine multiple intelligences?
Dr. Gardner, an American developmental psychologist has defined linguistic intelligence as one of the vital abilities to effectively express oneself rhetorically or poetically. Writers, poets, lawyers, and speakers fall under this category. Other crucial capabilities include musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, naturalistic, and existential intelligence. In his theory, Dr. Gardner states interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence as being critical and often linked to high levels of success in both business and professional careers.
With a proper evaluation, a child can check one or more of these seven intelligence categories and he/she can be turned into a “genius”.
And yet we fail to see that while our
Goldie can’t climb a tree,

HE CAN SWIM!


Here’s a

TRUE STORY

of a parent that will definitely make us rethink our
stereotyped ways of imposing careers on our children.
Mrs. Kakali Goswami, a high school science teacher from Guwahati, Assam was generous enough to narrate her story to us. Mrs. Goswami’s husband is a mechanical engineer and the couple had been trying to give the best upbringing to their son Pratham by sending him to one of the top coaching classes in the city. The only problem was that the couple had pre-decided Pratham’s future in science and he was being conditioned accordingly. His average analytical skills and low grades in science subjects were frowned upon while his fascination with literature was ignored.

“At that time we assumed his interest in literature was just a hobby which he should be pursuing in his free time. We wanted him to spend his crucial hours learning physics, chemistry, and biology as he scored below average in these subjects”, said Mrs.Goswami.

One evening when Pratham was rebuked by his strict father for failing a Physics test, Pratham broke down before his mother.
“That evening triggered my concerns for Pratham. I noticed that his under-confidence had started to show in his body language.
I feared for my son’s mental health”, confessed Mrs. Goswami.

Worrying about her son’s well-being, she actively started reading about the impact of parental pressures and stumbled upon stories on the number of yearly teenage suicides in India.


She discussed the matter in her social group and that’s when she chanced upon Pratham’s superior intelligence that she and her husband had been ignoring. Kajal Pal who happened to be Pratham’s classmate’s mother revealed how Pratham had been consistently winning the extempore competition every year. Pratham’s friends, especially Mrs. Pal’s son who is a low scorer in English relied heavily on Pratham’s notes to pass the subject.

“It was during one such conversation that Kajal spoke to me about ProTeen,” Mrs. Goswami revealed.


“Pratham is very humble and soft-spoken by nature. He will never publicly boast about his achievements at school. That was the problem. We had created an image of him in our minds, but the reality was quite different – ProTeen showed us our real Pratham! The results of the ProTeen assessment revealed how brilliant he is in linguistic intelligence and creative abilities.”
“Today Pratham is studying B.A English honors at Stephen’s College, Delhi University. He is a topper in his class. He aims to pursue his Master of Arts in English and American Literature from New York University. His father is so proud of him”, she concluded with a smile.
Get ready to craft your
own story ProTeen

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