The Rainbow Project: Implementing the Triarchic Theory of Successful Intelligence In today’s society, one of the most important factors of one’s life is their level of intelligence. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, intelligence is defined as, “the ability to learn or understand things or to deal with new or difficult situations”(“Intelligence”). This is important because intelligence is one of the main deciding factors of how far one will go in life – colleges use standardized tests like the SAT and the ACT to determine an applicant’s potential in the academic world by measuring their IQ. However, this method has become outdated since the introduction of the Triarchic Theory of Successful Intelligence – a measure of not only analytic …show more content…
Sternberg stated in a TEDx Talk in 2012, “My teachers thought I was stupid, and since they thought I was stupid, I thought I was stupid. And since I thought I was stupid, I did stupid work, and they were happy because I was meeting their expectations”.(None) Standardized testing, such as IQ tests and the SAT and the ACT, has become an outdated measure of intelligence because of the variance of types of intelligence. And while testing can be a necessary evil, rather than relying on the older models, we need to implement an alternative such as Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory, which tests a wider range of intelligence and was proven to be more effective at measuring aptitude when compared to its more narrow-minded …show more content…
The SAT was originally created in 1926 to do just that: to test an individual’s aptitude for college – the SAT then standing for Scholastic Aptitude Test. And even though little has changed regarding the testing style of the SAT(Strauss), scores have still been found to correlate with first-year grades in college (“What”). A 2011 study conducted by the National Association for College Admissions Counselling found that almost 60 percent of colleges consider SAT and ACT scores to be of “considerable importance” – only after grades and rigor of their high school(“Factors”). It was found that highly selective schools – Ivy League institutions – put more weight on test scores(“SAT”). This is because selective schools tend to produce more successful graduates that go on to endow their alma mater: As of the end of the 2014 fiscal year, Harvard College is ranked first with endowment assets at $36 million with Yale University next at $23 million(Smith-Barrow). This information begs the question: are colleges still using standardized tests just for the