Kendra Cherry based her article about multiple intelligences on Gardner's theory. This is a popular theory from 1983 and has been discussed among critics from both physiological and educational fields. These critics assume that Gardner's view of intelligence is too wide and doesn’t have enough practical proof. Gardner believes “people do not have just an intellectual capacity, but have many different intelligences including musical, interpersonal, spatial-visual and linguistic intelligences” (Cherry). In many ways, we can understand that one person can have many kinds of intelligences and those particular intelligences express a range of ability to capture things in specific area. For example, Logical-Mathematical Intelligence defines people who are strong in things such as solving a problem, recognizing patterns or analyzing reasons. Intrapersonal Intelligence describes people that are aware of their own emotions, feelings and motivations really well. Interpersonal Intelligence is the ability to understand and interact with other people, such as understanding their emotions, motivations, desires or intentions. Kendra Cherry's explanation of Gardner's theory gives us something to reflect in understanding where are our abilities are. I think this information is useful in helping us to make educational and career choices.
My result from an inventory about my innate intelligences is pretty interesting to me (bgfl.org). According to the result, I score high in Logical, Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Intelligence. I see myself in these definitions. I enjoy playing puzzle games and am really good at math. I like to solve problems and find the patterns or logic in the things that happen around me. I also spend a lot of time to analyze my own feelings and emotions. I get lost in my own little world sometimes, and people even call me a day-dreamer. Intrapersonally, I know why I like what I like, and why I don’t like what I don’t. On an interpersonal level, I enjoy listening to people and helping them solve their problems. I love to be around people. I laugh when they laugh, and I cry when they cry. I tend to wear people's shoes as naturally as I wear my own. In many ways, this chart gives me a better look at myself and helps me understand, very clearly, my own strengths.
With that knowledge of my strengths, I connect to my own career choice. The profession I want to pick in my future is accounting. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook website, my task will be to analyze all the financial activity of the firm that I work for. I will have to keep the financial processes operating properly, punctually and effectively. This job has a potential and stable outlook. It's “grow 16 percent from 2010 to 2012, about as fast as the average for all occupations” (Occupational Outlook Handbook). In order to become an accountant that can work for a big company, I need a Bachelor degree and a lot of experiences. The average wage was $61,690.00 per year in May 2010. This job requires analytical skill, communication skill, detail oriented skill, math skill and organization skill. These skills give me an ability to tell when something lightly goes wrong and figure out where it is and how to fix it. Besides that, I need to communicate well with my clients or managers to understand their orders and discuss the problems with them.
Accounting seems fit my Logical – Mathematical Intelligence, Intrapersonal Intelligence and Interpersonal Intelligence as well. I find myself interested in working with money and solving problems with math. I'm good at working on my own, and focusing on the main point of problems. As my Interpersonal Intelligence score shows, I can look at the situations from different side of views and be able to relate all the information to achieve the firm's goal. I can use critical thinking to identify the advantage and disadvantage of the solutions to decide the best one for the firm. I'm not extremely organized, but I pay attention to detail and am organized enough to identify whether something goes wrong or not. I've thought that being an accountant I will only deal with numbers most of my time, and can avoid communicating with people. Oppositely, communication is actually one of the main skills for this job. Conversation, which is not my best strength, should not be an obstacle for me as soon as I know what I'm talking about.
I have never looked at myself this way, to compare my capability with a job's qualifications. It gives me a clear and logical idea of my own faculty and makes me aware of whether the job is suitable for me or not. I can understand now that Accounting is not only about numbers but also about people, dealing with people and helping people. The knowledge from this research prepares me better in what to expect on the job. However, whatever the job I choose, I know it’s my attitude not my aptitude that determines my altitude. (Chinese's fortune cookie)
Work Cited
“Accountants and Auditors.” Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. N.d. Web.3 June 2013 < http://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm >.
Cherry, Kendra. “Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.” About.com. N.d. Web. Tue. 11 June 2013 <http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell.htm >.
“Summary report for: Accountant.” Onetonline.com. 13 Jan 2011. Web. Tue. 11 June 2013 <http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/13-2011.01 >.
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