Intellectual Character
What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Get It
Chapter One
Failing at Smart
Or What's an Education For?
A few years ago, I attended a conference entitled
"Teaching for Intelligence." The conference had been an annual event
for several years, bringing together leading educators interested in
promoting and realizing a vision of education designed to bring out
the best in all students' thinking. This particular year, the school
superintendent from the host city addressed the conference. Unfortunately,
as he spoke, it became clear that he was unfamiliar with his
audience and hadn't given his opening comments much advance
thought. He casually remarked that "Teaching for Intelligence"
seemed like a rather vague title for a conference. "After all," he
remarked, "what else would we be teaching for?" His remaining comments
were unremarkable, but this question, and the rhetorical way
it was framed, has stuck with me.
What else would we be teaching for if not intelligence? It is a question
I find worthy of considerable attention. Is teaching for intelligence,
that is, teaching with the goal of making students smarter, such
a cornerstone of our educational s ... read full excerpt from Intellectual Character: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Get It ebook
