A Completed Intelligence

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically… Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I had never read this quotation by Martin Luther King, Jr. until this morning and as in any statement, there are key words that jump out as if in 3-D. Education, Intensively, Critically, Intelligence plus Character and True Education stood out. On my quest to discover how character is formed and why it is relevant, I found King’s words haunting and confrontational. The words True Education resonate and suggest that there is a false education otherwise why would it be necessary to identify the true version. The compound of intelligence and character are as loaded a combination as you will find in our marketplace of social ideologies today.  Sounds simple enough because we all pretend to be fans of both intelligence and character until it comes time to make a choice between exercising a character driven intelligence or merely exploiting intelligence for personal advancement.

A ready example of how King’s words embattle life in 2010 is related to people’s greatest fear – LACK. The poor and the rich have this in common – NEITHER WANTS TO BE POOR. So much of education and much of the talk surrounding intelligence pertains to the acquiring of skills that will net monetary profit. In other words, intelligence should equal riches. And intelligence comes in many forms. Some are Visual-Spatial smart (artists), Bodily-Kinesthetic smart (athletic), Linguistic smart (writers/journalists), etc. but the purpose of the intelligence seems muted in 2010 and far from bearing any congruity with the words of King. Now, smart just means you have something that will allow you to make a “grip”($) in this world. That’s the way the ball bounces, we say. Run up the score on the opposing team because it might bode well for us financially. Or, create video games that are lewd and excessively violent but have a “rating” then you’ve done your job. Intelligence is at work in the modern rendering of the word.

But Ahhhhhhhh the character piece in the function. How does that work? It seems there’s always a “but” when it comes to character. Case-in-point, Charles Barkley used to say of his gambling addiction that he knew he had a problem BUT “it’s my money” so what’s it to you? Good question Chuck.  Or how about this one you may have said yourself or heard. “I don’t like my job or agree with what we do at my job  BUT that’s just the way it is. I make good money and I don’t want my kids to grow up poor the way I did.”

“…Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” If this is true, it has to have been linked to an outcome that civil rights leaders like King, Rosa Parks, Fred Shuttlesworth, Fannie Lou Hamer, Bob Moses, etc.  felt was worthwhile. When intelligence and character join forces, it just seems like the benefits of our “smarts” extend beyond the confines of the universal fear that I’LL NOT HAVE ENOUGH FOR ME.