Who said I'm not intelligent?

I agree with your belief that every individual has some sort of intelligence. Some are good test takers, while others are good at writing papers, doing projects, etc. I don't consider myself a good test taker either, which I think is the reason why I dislike the whole selective test idea.

The two arguments you present in this article (that being that people are stereotypical and standardized testing may not be an accurate way of measuring intelligence) can both be explained by the fact that in this non-ideal world where cause and effect for many things are convoluted, people rely on heuristics to interpret the world. Thus, even though you seem to be intelligent and academic, people rely on the stereotypes they've learned to associate with certain demographics to assess their world. There are always exceptions to any stereotype (in fact, perhaps more exceptions than examples) but the popular belief will stay intact. Stereotypes evolve or disappear, but it takes a very long time to do so.
As for the ACT and SAT, the textbook does claim that there are some high correlations between the score received on these exams to academic success in college, and even IQ. Again, this is just a correlation, so there will always be exceptions. However, perhaps this correlation value isn't high enough to justify putting too much weight on standardized test scores to determine who can go to a college or not.

I found this post quite interesting. However, if I'm not mistaken, IQ tests try to test your overall intelligence. So there are questions to test your intelligence in many different fields, which even everything out. There are certainly people who are really good at some things and awful at others (I'm terrible with art). But I do think that overall, some people are just dumb. It may be cynical of me to say this but that's just how I feel. This doesn't make them bad people, just not too smart.

It's good that you take school seriously, and break the "dumb blonde" stereotype. However, studying for tests and doing well in school doesn't make you intelligent, and neither does doing well on tests. Intelligence is how well you learn and can utilize new information. There are definitely correlations between the two, but as we've learned this semester, correlation doesn't imply causation. And I agree that some people don't test well, but the ACT and SAT are the best ways we have to see how "college ready" someone is.

It was interesting to me how the text book described intelligence as our brain's efficiency in processing information. I believe that some people are more "efficient", and therefor store more knowledge or can problem solve in more complex ways than others. Intelligence, however, does NOT equal social or academic success. Students do well in school often because of their devotion and work ethic, not their intelligence.

As far as my knowledge, nothing should have the ability to decide your intelligence. From readings in the book, I'm aware that even some psychologists don't have a concrete definition for what "intelligence" is. Therefore, I feel if you want to be considered intelligent, create your own definition, portray why you really are.

I completely agree with this post. Their are so many charistics and qualities of people to be considered into intelligence, and the only one that is conventionally called intelligence is analytical intelligence, like the intelligence needed to take tests. I honestly think that some comedians are geniuses. It takes some special understanding of humor, and culture and many other things to be able to have a crowd of people listen to you and to laugh hysterically about what you have to say.

Good for you for taking the judgmental opinions of others and turning them into a force for positive change. Unfortunately, high school (for many kids) becomes a personality brewing pot of sub-cultures with no interest in bettering their understanding of others. In our increasingly diverse and connected world, these things are very important.