HIERARCHY: INTELLECTUAL DISCRIMINATION

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking it’s stupid. -Albert Einstein

Being intelligent doesn’t solely mean that a person is good at solving math problems; fluent in speaking in English; great at memorizing Physics formula; brilliant in Chemistry nor excels in academics. Because according to Howard Gardener, there are nine different kinds of intelligence, namely:

• Naturalist intelligence- ability to incorporate with other living things such as animals and plants.
• Musical intelligence- the capacity to discern pitch, rhythm, timbre, and tone.
• Logical-mathematical intelligence- the ability to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complete mathematical operations.
• Existential Intelligence-sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why we die, and how did we get here.
• Interpersonal intelligence- the ability to understand and interact effectively with others.
• Bodily kinesthetic intelligence- the capacity to manipulate objects and use a variety of physical skills.
• Linguistic intelligence- the ability to think in words and to use language to express and appreciate complex meanings
• Intra-personal intelligence- the capacity to understand oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings and involves not only an appreciation of the self, but also of the human condition.
• Spatial intelligence is the ability to think in three dimensions. Core capacities include mental imagery, spatial reasoning, image manipulation, graphic and artistic skills, and an active imagination.

A year after Benigno Aquino III got elected as the president of the Republic of the Philippines, the K-to-12 program has been approved. The K-to-12 program meant an additional two years to the four-year high school before. And various of strands are offered like, the General Academics Strand, Stem Engineering and Mathematics Strand, Humanities and Social Science Strand, Accountancy and Business and Management, TVL track and Sports and Design track.

Each of these strands has their own strengths and specialization. Like for example, STEM students are good in Science subjects or for doing experiments; ABM students are known for their greatness in solving problems involving numbers; HUMSS students are good with words and public speaking; TVL students who focus in culinary and in bread and pastry make the most delicious dishes; and Sports, Arts and Design students create beautiful masterpieces.

Due to cultural background and peoples’ mindset, misconceptions happen and that is something we cannot deny. People tend to subconsciously bend facts. They use the strands’ strengths to form a hierarchy in their minds fit to their own version and definition of intelligence.

The classic stereotypes arise. If a person has high grades and excels academically, he is expected to take up either STEM or ABM. If a person is good in speaking and has good rapport, he is expected to be in HUMSS as a senior. STEM and ABM are the top choices of people as chosen strands because they deem it fit as strands at the top of the food chain, forming hierarchy as time goes by.

So where does this put the other strands?

People claim that GAS is for those who do not know what they want to take up in college yet, or whose academic ability does not reach that of the other strands, and so they are ‘left’ or ‘tossed’ into GAS. The harshest one to receive judgments are students of the TVL strand. They say this strand is also the patapon strand since they see the students belonging here as students who cannot perform well academically. These judgmental people are so narrow-minded that they don’t even take in consideration these following reasons why students choose a particular strand: GAS students simply have too many interests, or simply see the strand as the most beneficial choice — seeing as they are exposed to specialized subjects from all other strands and TVL students are those who aspire to be a chef in the future not to be scientists or mathematicians.

These stereotypes lead to hierarchy. The hierarchy leads to discrimination. And discrimination leads to strand degrading.

Because of strand degrading, many students are being affected by this. This intellectual discrimination and stereotyping has an effect for those students being degraded. In terms of social aspects, since this stereotyping happen it is of hard for students to socialize, mostly with other strands because they keep thinking that students in a particular strand doesn’t like them because they are being labelled as patapon. In emotional and mental aspects, discrimination can make students, who are being degraded, be pressured since they have to prove other people that they are wrong. This pressure can turn into stress that can lead for students to think suicidal thoughts that even though they will do everything, people will not appreciate them since they already have the label.

According to Eleanor Roosevelt Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. Sometimes, intelligence doesn’t really matter. What matters the most is your behavior or on how you help other people to improve rather than drag them down so you can be on top. Being intelligent is different from being well-educated. But people must learn how to be well-mannered before claiming that they are well-educated. Always remember that even the simple joke about labeling can affect not just one but lots of people. And don’t ever discriminate other people once you know that you aren’t perfect. Think before you speak.