I Can Spot Intelligence From Afar

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What is a book, an essay, an article in a newspaper, a film about? I learnt during my 40 years of teaching at secondary grammar schools that this is one of the most difficult questions . After passing the final exam a pupil can study at university in case their results are good and the university accepts them. That means that I taught intelligent pupils. Well, yes, in theory I did. But in reality there were always quite a lot of not so bright ones, too, who either didn’t succeed and left prematurely or who stayed miraculously slipping through the loops (a German saying). I often taught the older pupils in their last two years. They are 17/18 years old. In other countries they’re already called students. After many years of training they should at last be able to read through a text and say or write in some sentences what it is about. I gave them well-written essays to peruse. ‘Well written’ means that the whole text has an introduction, statement, and conclusion. Let’s assume that it has three paragraphs, one paragraph for each part. Each paragraph is also constructed in the above mentioned way. After studying some specimens pointing out what makes them ‘well-written’ the pupils got essays with the task to read them, underline what is important and then write a summary of only a few sentences. I was sitting at the desk watching the class. The intelligent pupils read the whole text. They did not have a pen in their hands. Then they made a pause, took a pen and began again. They read one paragraph, thought for a moment and then underlined one or two lines. I could see that from a distance because they used translucent coloured pens. The not-so-intelligent pupils started reading with a pen in their hand right from the beginning and underlined like mad already while reading. In the end nearly the whole text was underlined. It looked as if they had been busier than the others but their busyness hadn’t led to any insight. When I asked them what the text was about, they retold the text instead of mentioning one crucial sentence. Sometimes even one word would be the correct answer. I taught at a secondary grammar school which is the highest level of the German school system. If the pupils there are often not able to understand what is the core information of a text, what about lesser gifted pupils - or rather lesser gifted people in general? Nowadays people are bombarded with information coming from different media. People form their opinions after reading, watching or listening to them. But what do they really understand? Do they understand anything at all? The fact that tabloid papers are written in an easy, occasionally even primitive, style could be seen as positive in this context. If only the content were of relevance. But that is another topic for another pessimistic post.