Label

                  (photo: azquotes.com)

When is the time when one could claim that he/she is intelligent? You see, there are those whom we know whose confidence are oozing out of their cheap clothes that we wonder if this is still realistic. There is nothing wrong with confidence. In fact, it is the key to success. But having an overdose of it is disorienting if not offensive.

I was listening to someone belittle a person for being a simpleton. The culprit underscored someone’s inability to present ideas coherently in straight English. She continued to rant overly pronouncing the words to emphasize her point. A whirlwind of questions occurred inside my head as the woman consistently used the word STUPID to describe the person.

One thing which registered in me was this mystery: A person is already stupid when he could not speak well in English? What if he can compute mathematical problems using formulas that he designs himself and the “intelligent” woman can’t? Who is now the person to be labeled STUPID? Did the critic came across Howard Gardner’s theory on Multiple Intelligence?

But then, on a deeper thought, I realized that her ability to speak and pronounce good English are her crutches: the source of her confidence. But this could be dangerous to be the main source since the world is now full of dynamic information and the utilization of such knowledge and skills allow one to push himself towards becoming a transcendent individual. Take for example: What if she is going to encounter a discourse on Astrophysics and a 0.0001 m/s2 acceleration of a small object in space is being computed for its weight? Would her correct pronunciation of P’s and F’s matter? Will her prose count or her ability to contribute ideas to the discussion?

Labeling people is not a good practice. It dehumanizes others to the point that "superior" beings are being juxtaposed to "lesser" beings. According to Psychology Today: Labeling isn't always a cause for concern, and it's often very useful. It would be impossible to catalogue the information we process during our lives without the aid of labels like "friendly," "deceitful," "tasty," and "harmful." But it's important to recognize that the people we label as "black," "white," "rich," poor," smart," and "simple," seem blacker, whiter, richer, poorer, smarter, and simpler merely because we've labeled them so.

I’m in the public school system and I understand the footage of my learners. They have diverse backgrounds and the demographics allow a social scientist to understand their foundations. These learners must be given differentiated instructions for them to grasp and master the competencies needed for them to function well. Labeling them to be slow learners are so 20^th century. The dynamics of learning has expanded the platforms of mental development. Take for example the theory of constructivism: utilizing prior knowledge and learning by doing are better than an hour of lecture in the classroom. Incidentally, the aforementioned critic heralds herself as an orator to the point that she monopolizes classroom talk resulting to zombie-like learners from her gibberish.

There are still a lot of things that could be considered as sources of our confidence. Being humane is one. When one could connect to his humanity by understanding that he is part of the bigger whole, it could be a good crutch.

In the end, your properly-pronounced words do not matter. What matters most is your ability to care and your affection to those who need it. Empathy is a difficult value to attain since it entails going out of the self and considering others. 

Life is harsh and people became hardened with their experiences. But our intellectual will to become good allows us to become more than just another cruel animal in this jungle we call as EXISTENCE.