Life-Skills Intelligence: Street-Smarts
Marlon Marmolejo
Materials Development for the Foreign Languages
Course 36593
Professor Marinella Garatti
Fall 2005
Abstract
Dr. Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence identifies that there are many forms of intelligence and that people have varying strengths and combinations of these (Armstrong, 2000). Therefore, the Multiple Intelligence Theory suggests that no single set of teaching strategies will work best for all students at all times. All children have different predispositions in the nine intelligences, so any specific strategy to address a particular type of intelligence is very likely to be successful with several students but not with others. Consequently, it is very important to continue identifying other types of intelligence to create strategies to reach every single learner in the classroom. I’d like to propose a further study of “The People-Smart Person” that Dr.Gardner makes reference to through the Interpersonal Intelligence and that I will refer to as “The Street-Smart Person” within “The Life-Skills Intelligence”. I would also like to suggest that further research should be done so that The Life- Skills Intelligence might eventually become an intelligence by its own. I want to point out that “The Street-Smarts” have the ability of not only “reading people”, but also the ability to “read the environment” which is not taken into account in the “Interpersonal Intelligence”. The street-smart people possess a different set of characteristics that I will try to illustrate and, that I hope, will help researchers see why the street-smart should be treated as its own category.
Howard Gardner’s (1999) theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) views intelligence as a set of abilities, talents and skills in nine different areas: mathematical-logical, spatial-visual, bodily-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, verbal-linguistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. All human beings possess these intelligences in varying degrees and apply them depending on their preferences, activities and environment (Mantzaris, 1999). Most people can develop all of them to a degree of competence. Preferences, activities and environment take an important role in the development of life skills which often street-smart people learn to master and use for their own survival.
Life skills Intelligence: Street-Smarts
What does it mean to be street smart? Do you know your way around? Can you handle yourself in tough situations? Are you able to “read” people? Do you think in terms of usefulness and necessity rather than how it is done? Do you make decisions based on your instincts rather than analyzing all the pieces of information? Do you value experiences more than know-how-to? Are you known for having a great deal of common sense? Do you take into account your position in relationship with others and your surroundings before solving problems? Well, it means all these things because they will help you solve problems, keep you safe and survive.
Street-smarts is probably composed more of attitudes than skills per se. A student who might be considered to have street smarts will think about the broader implication of a particular topic or activity rather than its specific outcome (Harvard Business School 2001). For example, a street smart student evaluating the usefulness of a task would be asking how in real life he or she is going to benefit from the task rather than how to proceed to complete the task. From their perspective the broader implications and benefits of topics and activities are more relevant than the fact that he or she has to do A or B to succeed. “Similarly, a student with a gifted overdeveloped life-skills intelligence is willing to make a difficult decision based on gut instinct. A not-so-street-smart student tends to ask for far more information than what can be feasibly gathered within a set of time and resource constraints.” ( Harvard Business School 2001).
Is Street-smarts something we are born with or is it learned through experience? I think it is a little of both or let’s say a 40-60 kind of relation. It seems that for some humans it is an innate quality which is considered as having a great deal of “common sense” and for others it seems to increase rapidly just by being exposed to different situations which are considered as “experiences.”
I imagine the endless benefits of reaching the life-skills or street-smart learners to incorporate their abilities with the not-so-street-smart learners in the classroom and vice versa. It would be like having the best of both worlds.
I think that street-smart people can be taught by using working-in-the-real-world activities, something that is definitely neglected in textbooks and school activities. I think it’s time we put aside any negative connotation that the expression street-smart might have and exploit it to achieve better results in class instruction. I hope the by calling it life-skills, we can start thinking about it in more positive terms.
Would it fit the profile?
We learn, we communicate, and we solve problems in different ways using our intelligence. However let’s not forget that intelligence is the ability to identify a problem, then solve it or make something that is useful for oneself or other people. Intelligence is also, according to Dr. Gardner, the ability to find and solve problems and create products of value in one’s culture. Can we solve problems using the Life-Skills Intelligence? The answer is “YES.”
Dr. Gardner has developed the following eight criteria method for identifying an intelligence (http://surfaquarium.com/MI/criteria.thm):
1. Isolation as a brain function: As medicine studies isolated brain functions through cases of brain injury and degenerative disease, we are able to identify actual physiological locations for specific brain functions. A true intelligence will have its function identified in a specific location.
2. Prodigies, Savants and Exceptional individuals: Human records of geniuses such as Mozart (being able to perform on the piano at the age of four), Dustin Hoffman’s “Rainman” character (being able to calculate dates accurately down to the day of the week), and children diagnosed with William’s syndrome (known as the cocktail party personality children for their social skills), who can memorize songs in more than thirty languages. These cases indicate that there are specific human abilities which can demonstrate themselves to high degrees in unique cases.
3. Set of Core Operations: There is an identifiable set of procedures and practices, which are unique to each true intelligence.
4. Developmental History with an Expert End Performance: As clinical psychologists continue to study the developmental stages of human growth and learning, a clear pattern of developmental history is being documented of the human mind. A true intelligence has an identifiable set of stages of growth with a Mastery Level, which exists, as an end state in human development. We can see examples of people who have reached the Mastery Level for each intelligence.
5. Evolutionary History: As cultural anthropologists continue to study the history of human evolution, there is adequate evidence that our species has developed intelligence overtime through human experience. A true intelligence can have its development traced through the evolution of Homo sapiens.
6. Supported Psychological Tasks: Clinical psychologists can identify sets of tasks for different domains of human behavior. A true intelligence can be identified by specific tasks, which can be carried out, observed and measured.
7. Supported Psychometric tasks: The use of psychometric instruments to measure intelligence (such as I.Q. test) has traditionally been used to measure only specific types of ability. However, these tests can be designed and used to identify and quantify true unique intelligences. The Multiple Intelligence theory does not reject psychometric testing for specific scientific study.
8. Encoded Symbol System: Humans have developed many kinds of symbol systems over time for varied discipline. A true intelligence has its own set of images it uses which are unique to itself and are important in completing its identified set of tasks.
Based on the eight criteria mentioned above suggested by Dr. Gardner, and on the fact that the life-skills intelligence shares some of the characteristics of the interpersonal intelligence, a proven intelligence already, I think the life-skills intelligence ought to be further investigated as a potential category. Of course, this further study and research must be done before we can find more evidence to support the brain function, the developmental history and the psychometric tasks criteria, which are crucial aspects of Dr. Gardner’s theory to prove the existence of an intelligence.
We should also remember that everyone has all intelligences, the intelligences are not mutually exclusive (they act in consort) and that MI theory was not developed to exclude individuals, but to allow all people to contribute to society through their own strengths (Walter Mckenzie, 2003). Therefore, street smart people contributions ought to be part of our society.
Characteristics and Behavior of Street-Smarts People
Seems to be a natural leader on teams.
Has a better understanding of what is happening in his/her surroundings.
Seems to act on instincts, but wisely.
Can make decisions more easily based on instinct.
Displays a sense of independence and strong will.
Can see problems from different points of view.
Has a realistic sense of life.
Knows what to do and how to react by looking at non-verbal cues.
Likes to play with friends, but playing alone doesn’t bother him.
Prefers to play games with a purpose or reward.
Has a tendency to be more knowledgeable than his/her peers about the facts of life.
Enjoys listening and observing other people.
Likes to tell stories related to his experiences.
Wants to know the practical meaning of things.
Finds his/her way around very easily.
Has great understanding of the monetary value of things.
Makes friends easily.
Can talk his/her way out of trouble.
Can learn just by careful observation.
Knows how to play politics to manipulate others.
How to identify The Life Skills Intelligence learner: Street Smart:
How street-smart am I?
This can easily be done by answering the following statements honestly by checking the score from 1 to 5. Considering 5 if you strongly agree with the statement.
Strongly disagree Neutral Agree
I make friends easily 1 2 3 4 5
I know something is wrong just by looking around 1 2 3 4 5
I can guess the price of items easily 1 2 3 4 5
I can figure out how to use appliances without reading the manual 1 2 3 4 5
I have enough common sense not to put myself or others in danger 1 2 3 4 5
I can make decisions easily on the spot 1 2 3 4 5
I prefer to know why rather than how 1 2 3 4 5
I don’t daydream, I am too realistic for that 1 2 3 4 5
I am not afraid to get lost 1 2 3 4 5
I am smart enough not to let anybody take advantage of me 1 2 3 4 5
This is a test designed based on the most prominent characteristics of the Street-smarts to
find out how far you have developed your Life skills intelligence. The test still needs to go
through a process of validation by applying it to find its effectiveness and make the appropriate
adjustments to improve it, if is necessary.
Curriculum References to M.I. and the Street Smart
Education must be perceived as a continuing process in life that is useful to solve problems creatively and plan effectively for the immediate and long future – something the street-smart learner has constantly in mind. Students should be taught how to take advantage of the many learning methods and strategies, both old and new, to develop transferable skills. The curriculum should emphasize leaning experiences and approaches to learning that develop and foster these skills and habits of mind. I think it’s time for a new curriculum that is designed for all students; that is, it should recognize that programs must reflect the abilities, needs, interests, learning styles of students of both genders and students of all racial, linguistic, and social backgrounds. It should also provide diverse content and use of a wide range of teaching approaches and, to an increased degree, find a way to involve teachers in students’ lives outside the classroom.
Let’s talk about Steven, a teacher a few years ago. During his teaching years, he had a student, Sam. What Steven remembers the most is how mature and knowledgeable about the facts of life Sam was. Sam’s mother let Steven know that Sam was making bombs in the basement of his house. Steven talked to Sam who confessed he had learned how to make bombs by hanging out with other kids from the neighborhood and that he had done some research on the net to learn more about it.
Steven’s main concern was to channel this knowledge constructively which he achieve by convincing Sam that he had a gift and that this could lead into a job with police or the FBI as a bomb squad specialist. It is very important to clarify that Sam was a middle-high class, since we have the tendency to think that only low or poor income status kids can be considered street smart. Another example is the famous check forger and impersonator, Frank Abagnale, from the seventies who stole millions and ended up working for famous banks designing security traits for checks and for the FBI (Frank Abagnale is portrayed by Leonardo Dicaprio in the movie “Catch Me if You Can.” The example illustrated before, might be considered not the most appropriate due to new laws and changes in school policies, but I wanted to show the impact of the Life-Skills intelligence in this particular student.
As I said before, some people seem to have it as an innate ability and others might acquire or improve it through life experiences.
Finally, it is essential that the curriculum responds to students’ varying strengths and abilities, as well as changing needs and circumstances. Teachers’ assessments of students progress will indicate the kind of adjustments that will be needed to meet the particular needs of individual or groups as they work toward achieving common outcomes.
How to Meet Street-Smart Needs
“ A child growing up in the slums or in household with no literacy or books could be very street-smart, yet not have the school learning required for the traditional measurement of IQ,” says Das, (Professor Emeritus in educational psychology at the university of Alberta) (http://www.news-medical.net/ualberta.ca/). Das identifies four “rules of intelligence” that go into formation processing. These rules include a belief that intelligence is not fixed, but it is influenced by such factors as learning and cultural demands, a key factor in the street-smart, cognitive abilities, even school attendance, as well as individual ability to process information such as language and face recognition. The rules guide the research on PASS theory, developed by Das and two colleagues in1994. PASS (an acronym for Planning, Attention, Simultaneously and Successive Processing) has shown that intelligence should not be measured by school learning and IQ testing, but by information processing that occurs during the learning. “What goes into intellectual abilities and how a person solves problems is more important than a score itself,” says Das.
Based on the previous analysis by Dr. Das, I would like to suggest a set of teaching strategies for the Life Skills Intelligence.
Strategies
Some students need to know how ideas and activities would be useful when dealing with the real world if they are to function optimally in the classroom. Street-smart people can definitely benefit from cooperative learning. However, since every student has already street-smart intelligence waiting to be developed, every educator should be aware of the teaching approaches that incorporate interaction among people and social context, two of the main components of the five C’s of the standard for foreign language teaching (Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities) that we have discussed in class. All language classes can benefit a great deal from having street-smarts activities and strategies. The following strategies can tap these students’ needs and prompt them to be developed in others.
Simulations.
A simulation involves two or more people coming together to create an “as if” environment. This temporary setting becomes the context for getting into more immediate contact with the material learned and its use in real life. For example, students studying housing might pretend they’re buying one. The not-so street-smart students will probably ask the most obvious and pertinent questions related to the construction and accommodations, while the street-smart would want to know how safe the neighborhood is, how often there are flooding problems in the area and perhaps if there are any frequent power shortages in the neighborhood. This student would very likely draw information from his own experience to complete the task.
Simulations can be quick and improvisational in nature, with the teacher providing an instant scenario to act out: Let’s pretend there is an earthquake and we are on the fourth floor in the building. Try to figure out how to keep everybody calm and take them to a safe place. The street-smart person will probably take leadership, use his common sense or gut instinct and make quick decisions that will ensure the safety of all his peers. Although this strategy involves several intelligences ( kinesthetic, linguistic and spatial), it is included in the life skills intelligence because human reactions in emergencies, can help develop survival skills that are necessary throughout life.
Entertainment shows (talk shows, radio shows, TV shows, court trials and sports)
Whether we like it, or not, television is part of the daily life of our children. They learn the facts of life through well and not-so-well oriented TV shows. This presents a great opportunity to discuss different topics or lessons that students might not want to deal with. For example, creating a panel of hosts to discuss the priorities in helping hurricane victims gives the chance to the street-smart people to bring up subjects other kids might have never considered. Or what about a radio show where you call asking for advice how to deal with school issues like bullies, gangs, lack of interest, peer pressure or maybe depression.
Teaching languages gives any teacher the advantage of dealing with almost any topic. It provides the perfect excuse to teachers to bring up subjects about life and social behavior without being politically incorrect, because the subject matter is neutral.
The price is right/Reward games.
Street-smart students seem to have a great sense of money value and the difficulty that it might represent to get what we want. They are also aware of the work that it takes to achieve certain goals. This can be taught by using board games like “Monopoly”, “Bingo” or “The Guardian” which is an innovative safety board game that teaches safety skills to succeed in a family or community setting using an entertaining and motivation format. This game is available at (http://www.safetygame.com). It is amazing how fast kids learn to add and subtract when numbers are associated with any kind of currency.
School projects: The Apprentice.
Why not take advantage of the street-smart learner’s leadership to carry out a simple mission by being in charge of a small group of people in search of a common goal in the most unusual scenarios. For example, ask them to come up with a list of possible solutions to a set of problems if they were dropped in an unknown city in a foreign country just with their return tickets, a very small amount of money, and with twelve hours to make it to the airport in a nearby city. They will have to figure out how to take a shower, eat cheaply, find medicine for a sick person in the group, etc, etc.
Students can be also given hypothetical situations for which they will have to come up with a list of solutions to get their own character out of trouble. They might also want to work on class public service announcement that they can video tape to teach their peers about particular dangerous situations and how to face them. For example, how to avoid being mugged or picked-pocketed in the subway in Manhattan by giving tips such as keeping the wallet in the front pocket, avoiding empty cars or having good body posture to display confidence through body language. Many thieves when asked how they pick their victims, they say that they could see if a potential victim was carrying something valuable by the way they held their bags and if they were fearful or insecure through their body language: “ Behave like a victim and you’ll become one.”
Literary Sociograms
A sociogram is a web that visually illustrates the relationships within a group of people. One can take a story and make a sociogram from it. As well, one can visually illustrate a ladder where one looks at the move and countermove of a pair of characters. One can start to attribute cause and effect; this character did this because that character did that. Social knowledge can be deepened and this can be a complement to social skills programs or for outlining the real cause of a fight.
Reading material
Students are always willing to read anything if they know that they will learn something useful and that they can figure out how to put it into practice as soon as possible like numbers to have a sense of quantity in ownership. Street-smarts students are no exception to the rule. They would benefit from reading “Fables” to discuss the morale of the story or from “how-to books” especially those that teach how to fix things like cars or appliances.
Multiple Intelligences and career development
Because the MI theory was formed in part by examining what people do in the world – in the performance of jobs and tasks (Checkly, 1997) MI profiling and learning activities should be useful in career choice and career development. A profile of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses in the intelligences can be developed using a tool such as the multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scale (MIDAS) created by Sheater (1997, 1999).
I think that teachers in conjunction with the use of MI theory can assist the career development and counseling process of children in a number of ways. 1) The theory of Multiple Intelligences can help develop Self-knowledge: Knowing strengths and weaknesses through MIDAS (which will have to be adapted to our purposes) to have a sense of skills and abilities.
2) The MI Theory can also expand career possibilities: Mantzaris (1999) found that being involved in MI activities broadened their parameters of their career choices, instead of focusing on the “right fit”; and Enhancement of self-esteem: At-risk students and adults who may have not experienced career success have benefited from recognizing that they are intelligent and that they can find jobs that match their strengths (Shearer 199& King1997).
“The lack of street-smarts in the professional world is real since too much emphasis is placed on achieving good scores based on traditional assessment to assume being worthy of getting the job” ( Harvard Business School 2001). I hope some day we learn to value street-smart intelligence to assess the worthiness and qualities to be considered as a candidate for a job.
Some of the career options for those who have developed their street-smart intelligence more than the others should consider jobs such as politicians, correctional officers, policemen, anti- crime specialists, disaster prevention specialists, first responders, emergency medical technicians, soldiers, brokers, salespersons, entrepreneurs, priests/ministers/rabbis, tour guides, manage, anthropologists, ecologists and any profession needing quick instinct decision making.
Textbooks
Unfortunately, some language textbooks are still too structured and based on the all traditional concepts of learning and teaching. It wasn’t until recently and thanks to the MI theory (Gardner, 2000) that new strategies are being used to design language textbooks that take into account the different learning styles. Since I am proposing the consideration of a new intelligence with a particular set of learning strategies, it will take a while before we can begin to see activities and exercises which will target it. I think is time to begin to teach about the facts of life and all the skills that are necessary to succeed, not only at a professional level, but also at personal one. This implies taking knowledge that is useful for survival outside the classrooms when dealing with and, most importantly, when not dealing with “the so-called professional world.”
I hope we not only implement these changes in the language textbooks, but also in any textbook with any teaching purposes.
Conclusion
The postulation of a learning theory is not a simple task since it requires extensive research and diversified scientific methods to support the findings and speculations presented. Dr. Gardner (1999) has succeeded with his MI theory through his scientific method to prove the existence of an “intelligence type”. I have proposed the Life-Skills Intelligence or Street-Smart intelligence to be tested with this scientific method and at the same time suggested a possible relationship with his Interpersonal intelligence. Unfortunately, some of these criteria require very advanced technology and time investment to support the Street-Smart Intelligence in terms such as, isolation as a brain function, the developmental history and the supported psychometric tasks.
Therefore, I have to reiterate that the main purpose of this paper is to highlight arguments for another learning style that I wish would eventually be submitted to further investigation and scrutiny. Street-smart people possess a set of characteristics and behaviors that are worth analyzing to transfer them into teaching strategies to benefit not only this particular kind of learner, but also all other learners. It is also important to include these strategies into the curriculum design to ensure a more wholesome one.
Due to the extent of the research and time limitations, there are numerous questions that need to be addressed, for example: Are men more likely to be more street-smart than women or are women equally prone to develop street-smarts? Are certain ethnicities more equipped with life-skills than others? Are street-smarts people determined or influenced by social status? Or are we born street-smart or is this trait acquired through experience?
Finally, we must take advantage of the great opportunity that presents itself through this kind of intelligence to teach and talk about life skills in our classrooms. Especially for the language teacher who can bring almost any topic into classroom settings and still be politically correct. One thing is for sure and it is that Street-Smart Intelligence (for Americans), “Malicia Indigena” (“native malice instinct” in Spanish) or “Savoir-Faire (“know how to” in French) and many other similar expressions in different languages, demonstrate the cross-cultural implications and existence of this intelligence. Remember: “It’s not how smart you are- It’s how you are smart!” Gardner (Theory of Multiple Intelligences, 1999).
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