A quick definition by the Search God, aka Google, will tell you that it is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills or the collection of information of military or political value. To be an intelligent being on the other hand, is to know you exist, to know you are here and perceive life not only by pure instinct, and ask the question no one can really answer, "Why am I here?".
Being "Smart" on the other hand is showing intelligence, and since intelligence is somewhat still undefined so does being smart. Considering everything we define comes from this "intelligent" mind, it all depends on one's capability to understand and explain the world around him. It can be said that intelligence is just another theory we keep telling ourselves to separate us from other animals.
Maybe Intelligence is another word for God, for something that we can not perceive yet, something so fundamentally complicated that the ability of the human mind to perceive it, is still impossible. After all isn't the word intelligent used for someone who is mentally superior from others? It is our biological need created from by natural selection to separate one another and place humans in categories and groups. We have ethnicities, religious groups, political parties, sexual orientations, relationship statuses, food preferences and the list goes on and on. If you do not belong in some group you are a nobody, no identity, no purpose and no peers.
If you made it this far in this full of theory post, you are probably wondering, what's the point of all "this". Can you name an institution whose fundamental target is to make and support "smart" or "intelligent" individuals? You probably guessed it right, it's school yet again. Educational systems like to pride themselves for that. Let me ask you another question, "How can you teach, support and develop "intelligent" individuals when the meaning of the word is so unclear?". It's simple, you can't.
Despair not my fellow intelligent beings, there is another word out there, called "specialize" which according to the Search God is to "concentrate on and become expert in a particular subject or skill". What this allows us to do is to concentrate on the specific strengths of each individual rather than teach all of them in a standardized way and support the"intelligent". One person can be really good at one thing and really bad at something else, which education pays no attention to. The sole purpose of education should be to help find that something. Since information is so widely available in this technologically advanced era, there is almost no need for schools to provide it. They should focus on developing the interests of an individual rather than placing everyone in the category of "stupid" or "intelligent" with the only criteria of ones performance being tests and exams.
By all means, I am not suggesting that broader knowledge is not to be taken into consideration, but it's one thing to provide broad knowledge and another to force someone to learn. Providing an environment that encourages the natural human curiosity, is essential to educating people.
So I leave you with this, "Finding that path, is to allow them to see themselves for who they truly are and what they can be, and not judge themselves based on the strengths and success of someone else. Becoming aware of themselves and their individuality, and to have a purpose and direction should be the main concern of educational systems. Growth comes through self awareness not through tests and exams that exist to place tags on individuals."
Article:
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/new-research-students-benefit-from-learning-that-intelligence-is-not-fixed/
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