Everyone has the desire to be correct. No one wants to be incorrect. Everyone wants to be intelligent, and everyone is intelligent, not only in academics, but other areas too. Whether intelligence is from the wisdom of poets, or the personal insight of a middle school student like me, it can be debated and learned many different ways, and told from many different perspectives such as Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Intelligence can be found in unconventional forms like Daniel Tammet's. There is not only one way to be intelligent, intelligence is not only academics. While many instead think of intelligence as strictly academics, they do not realize that there are actually many other ways to be intelligent. Poetry…show more content… Daniel is a real life savant, has synesthesia, and is autistic, all of which are mental illnesses. Any given person would hear this, or see Daniel struggling with social skills, and automatically assume that he is mentally ill and not capable of being as intelligent as others. Actually, Daniel is an incredibly intelligent human being. He is basically a human calculator and does not require any conscious effort to do incredibly difficult math problems. He is a perfect example of an unconventional, or uncommon type of intelligence. Daniel does not excel at anything social, but when it comes to numbers, he is extraordinary. Everything Daniel sees is related to a number in some way. Whether it be in color, shape or even personality, if he sees a person he matches them up with a number. For example, once Daniel was on national TV, and the first thing he says to the host is that he “looked like the number 117--tall and lanky.” Not many people think of people as numbers, making this an unconventional type of intelligence. Other times he uses numbers to help him understand other people socially. One time, Daniel was trying to understand fear so he imagined being entrapped in the number six. This made sense because for him, the number six is like fear for others. Using his strengths helps him understand what other people feel like, in this case the feeling of fright or alarm. Although he struggles to have great social skills, Daniel is the perfect example of how even people who are mentally ill are as intelligent as others. Also that intelligence can be found in very unique and unconventional ways. Ultimately, there are many ways to be intelligent outside of academics. Whether it is dealing with plants, developing a good sense of how to play a sport, or even seeing people as numbers, every person is intelligent in some special way.
