In any group of people, it’s easy to determine who is the fastest or the strongest or even the best-looking. But picking out the most intelligent person is difficult, because intelligence involves many attributes that can’t be measured in a one-time assessment, like an I.Q. test. There is no intellectual equivalent of the hundred-yard dash. An intelligent person is open-minded, an outside-the-box thinker, an effective communicator, is prudent, self-critical, consistent, and so on. These are not qualities readily subject to measurement.
– Louis Menand,
The New Yorker, June 6, 2011, p. 74
– Louis Menand,
The New Yorker, June 6, 2011, p. 74
In a society that encourages its members to pursue the career paths that promise the greatest personal or financial rewards, people will, given a choice, learn only what they need to know for success. They will have no incentive to acquire the knowledge and skills important for life as an informed citizen, or as a reflective and culturally literate human being.
– Louis Menand,
The New Yorker, June 6, 2011, p. 74
– Louis Menand,
The New Yorker, June 6, 2011, p. 74