Intelligence Paragraph

The following was written by a grade 8 GOLD student.

          I think that although it is mostly useful, intelligence can sometimes be problematic. For instance, intelligence can prevent you from having fun. You may not find people’s jokes funny anymore, or you may not enjoy their company. People may also not want to be your friend if they feel like you’re smarter than them. They might ignore you, or try to intimidate you so they feel better. Therefore, displays of intelligence should be kept to a minimum unless necessary.

I remember one time I was talking to two kids at recess, Bruce and Campbell. Bruce was my friend, but I didn’t get along too well with Campbell. I remember that I was having an argument with Campbell. During the argument, I realized how I could prove Campbell’s argument wrong. But try as I might, I couldn’t get them to understand it. Campbell made a joke about me, and they started laughing. Bruce was still my friend afterward, and I continued to talk to them that day, but I really wished that I could have just been able to ignore Campbell’s flawed argument and not have to go through that moment.

In the short story Flowers for Algernon; the main character George undergoes a surgery to become smarter. He goes from an I.Q. of 60 to one of 200. As he becomes smarter however, he realizes the people at the plant he works at aren’t his friends as he thought, but rather take advantage of his previously low intelligence to make fun of him. He also sees a busboy in a restaurant that has a mental defect, causing all the other workers to laugh at him. As the story progresses, George becomes depressed due to these incidents and the realization that he will lose his intelligence.

Intelligence is a good thing, but it should be exercised in moderation. Sometimes it’s just better to sit back and not be reasonable in every situation. This can be hard however, and therefore can make conversations between people of high intelligence and low intelligence hard. It can also make people dislike other people, as they realize that said people aren’t as smart as they thought, or vice versa. Intelligence, therefore, is good, but can also make it hard to make friends with people of different intelligences.