Who Is Intelligent? If a person scores a perfect score on their SAT are they intelligent? One could argue that they are only good at answering questions given by those who make the SATs. What if they were given the task to grow crops like a farmer, or give them a test on how to fix a car, they would probably do much worse. Author Isaac Asimov experienced this first hand with his mechanic; in his essay: What Is Intelligence Anyway, explains how intelligence is subjective to those who are judging who is intelligent or not. Even still, a person who scores perfect on their SAT did not get their without hard work and determination. Kathy Seal; in her essay: The Trouble With Talent: Are We Born Smart Or Do We Get Smart?, explains how hard work and determination is why many Asians are considered more intelligent than Americans in academics. The hard work that the Asians try to implement into their children’s brains, makes them value hard work. Whereas in America we see a genius and think he must have been born that way. Both of their thoughts combined leads to one conclusion; intelligence only matters to those who are judging who is intelligent and who is not, intelligence is defined by someone who has knowledge on a specific topic, and for someone to become intelligent it takes hard work.
Intelligence is subjective. It only matters to the person who is judging who is intelligent and who is not. Asimov explains how he feels about this in his essay; “My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.” (1) He explains how for all of the knowledge he obtains he would not be considered a smart man to people who have no need for his knowledge. Only society has marked him a smart man because they value someone who can speak and write well over people who have skill related knowledge like a mechanic. Think of a farmer, would a farmer need the knowledge that a college professor of English has? This is why who is considered intelligent only matters to those who are judging who is or not. People who are considered not “intelligent” can be much more useful in specific situations than those considered “intelligent” by our society. We have many farmers in America who give this nation food. Is a farmer not as intelligent as someone who scores perfect on a SAT? If you were to ask a starving family they would probably say that the farmer was the smarter person because they supply one of our most basic needs: food. A similar scenario occurred in Asimov’s essay, “I had an auto-repair man once… when anything went wrong with my car I hastened to him with it, watched him anxiously as he explored its vitals, and listened to his pronouncements as though they were divine oracles - and he always fixed my car.” (1) Asimov explains how he feels less intelligent when his mechanic is working on his car. In this specific scenario he cannot feel intelligent because he lacks the knowledge to fix the car. Intelligence is something gained through hard work and determination. In America there is a stereotype that Asians are more intelligent than Americans. Many believe this is true. The reason for it is because Asians are taught that hard work makes you a smarter person. While Americans are taught that you are either born with or without brains. Seal confirms this in her essay, “Stigler concludes that the Asian belief in hard work as the key to success is one reason why Asians outperform us academically” (1) Asians work harder and therefore are more intelligent than us in academics. In order to become good at something it requires determination and practice. Any teacher in the world could talk about the countless hours they put into college to be considered intelligent enough to teach. It is not something obtained easily it requires hard work. Intelligence is defined by someone’s knowledge on a specific topic, and for someone to become intelligent, it takes hard work. People do not score perfect on their SATs because they are geniuses. It took years of hard work and study. There are many intelligent people in the world. However, who is intelligent or not only matters to the person deciding.