Quest of Intelligence in Education

Proceedings of The 2nd International Conference on Teaching, Learning, and Education

Year: 2019

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/2nd.ictle.2019.11.693

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Quest of Intelligence in Education

Hari Kamali

ABSTRACT: 

Intelligence, a major concern in education, has been defined differently in course of time. In 1950s and ’60s ‘intelligence quotient’ (EQ), which mainly focused on verbal and mathematical-logical dimensions of thinking, was in practice. But in 1990s came ‘multiple intelligences’ (MQ) that included wider dimensions of human skills. But again in the same decade came ’emotional intelligence’ (EQ) that mainly focused on the emotional dimensions of personality. And again in the beginning of the 21^st century all these intelligences were challenged by ‘spiritual intelligence’—with the claim that all these intelligences are incapable of explaining the complexities of the human heart and soul (Zohar and Marshall, 2000). So they defined spiritual intelligence as ”the soul’s intelligence” which encompasses all dimensions of humanity. Similarly, MacGilchrist, Mayers and Reed (1997) defined it as ”a fundamental valuing of the lives”; and for Burns and Lamont (1995) it was ”a source of creativity”. As spiritual intelligence focuses on developing all human qualities, Day (2004) argued that it is ”loosely related to the moral purpose of a teacher”. Above all, when we observe the teachings in the Bhagavad Gita by Lord Krishna as a teacher, it is obvious that they are guided by spiritual purposes and are concerned with understanding soul and ethical principles (Bhagavad Gita, 2.20; 3.43; 5.20,10.32) which justifies the significance of spiritual intelligence in education.

Keywords: intelligence quotient; multiple intelligences; emotional intelligence; spiritual intelligence.