My two older sisters were smart. I wasn’t. My mom and dad did their very best to never compare me to my sisters and they valued me for who I was but the system can be cruel. It was painstakingly clear that I just didn’t have the intellectual chops that my sisters possessed. They both graduated as valedictorians of their high school classes. Me? I was lucky to be in the top ten…of a very small graduating class. Very small. Did I mention it was small?

Then I made the Dean’s List after my first semester at A&M. The Dean’s List of those on academic probation, that is. I came home that Christmas break with a stellar 1.8 GPA. I don’t really remember Mom and Dad’s response but I’m sure it had something to do with the old saying, Shape Up or Ship Out! My mom was fond of saying that. I decided to shape up and from that point on, I took the pursuit of all things academic seriously.

It was during this time that I read Howard Gardner’s book Multiple Intelligences. In the book, Gardner challenged old-school notions that intelligence is a single entity that can be measured using standardized tests. He proposed that there are actually seven types of intelligences - two of which we usually associate intelligence with (linguistics, logical-mathematical), three associated with the arts (musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial) and two called personal intelligences (interpersonal and intrapersonal). His hope was that educators would straighten up and take note that many of their students possessed intelligences that were outside the scope of the old-school understanding.

Because I had such a hard time in school and because I know the world values “smart” people I want Sophia and Ira to excel in the traditional academy. And while they may do exactly that, I can already see these other intelligences rising up within them. The education system may not value them but I’ll take my cues from my mom and dad and value my kids for who they are. And really, at this stage of the game, isn’t that all that matters?