Schools do not Make you Smarter

The role of schooling and its important in the life of people continues to draw considerable debate even with the passing years. For the proponents of the education, the most common perception is that the schooling system is designed to make a person smarter. The argument for this statement is that the skills and knowledge acquired during school
enrolment, in the long run, result in the enhancement of a person’s smartness. This is, however, not the case for those who differ with that particular notion. This long-standing difference of opinion forms the basis of the argument that is put forwards in this paper.
The idea that going to school makes a person smarter is an opinion that various scholars have continuously supported. An excerpt from one such proponent would be Willingham T. who argues:
Kids cognitive abilities improve the longer they have been in school, but it's certainly plausible that better cognitive abilities make it more probable that you'll stay in school longer. And schooling is also confounded with age--kids who have been in school longer are also older and, therefore, have had more life experiences, and perhaps those have prompted the increases in intelligence (67).
The remarks by Willingham Daniel T. above do point out many critical issues relating to schooling and an individual’s smartness. The underlying fact that can be gotten from the excerpt is that schools play a significant role in improving the mental acuity of an individual. It is true that education and schooling correlate to some positive changes and impacts in an individual. However, that does not become the foundation for the claims put forwards by proponents like Willingham Daniel.
However, that being said, upon the broad acceptance of the IQ tests, many attempts and studies have been designed with regards to the enhancement of a person’s intelligence. The basis of the statement and argument put forward by Willingham is based on a research that he conducted and found out that out of the tests they gave to the participants in their study, performance was consummate to the period of schooling (Willingham B. 91). Which is to say; that the older participants performed much better than, the younger ones in the assigned tests. The assumptions derived from this study hold the notion that cognitive skills are impacted and in fact enhanced by schooling.
However, such arguments are not entirely correct. I do believe that going to school helps in a person growing in smartness. The basic facts about school are that one gets introduced to knowledge and skills that they previously were not aware of. As a person goes through the school system, they acquire more skills and knowledge along the way. However, the acquisition of skills and knowledge cannot be mistaken for improved or enhanced smartness. The measure of intelligence and smartness if often attained through the use of Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Therefore, the argument that states a person’s education and schooling plays a role in the enhancement of their intelligence suggests that as a matter of fact training is instrumental in improving IQ.
According to my opinion and belief, schooling provides a means to access of education. The single and most important aspect of schooling is education. The reason behind such a train of through lies in the fact that; numerous individuals have not stepped in any form of classroom environment yet they are just as smart and intelligent. They have learnt, without ever stepping into a class, to survive and adapt to changing conditions. This essence means they have developed the ability to discern problems and create solutions (Wolf 65). Their understanding of life is based on a visceral approach, and they still manage to provide guidance and wise counsel. This means, in a nutshell, that they are smart, in as much as they may not be educated. Education, on the other hand, comes in handy, but only as a tool. Staying in school to learn creates an avenue through which a person can use to share in the world’s accumulated knowledge.
Newly learnt languages, mathematics and a general gain of knowledge should not be mistaken for enhanced smartness. The entire argument presented in this paper focus on the fact that smartness translates to intelligence. That being the fact, one does realize that what is examined in the measure of a person’s IQ does not change over time, however much their knowledge may increase. The ability to adapt to changing environments and solve new problems requires intelligence and not necessarily knowledge. This is to say, a rise in an individual’s IQ is not realized as a result of attending school.
The achievement gaps and intelligence quotient differences are elements whose onset can be traced back to the womb. The entire growth process that a child goes through from the environment in which they grow up into a myriad of biological factors all impact on their intelligence levels. The measurement of an individual’s intelligence remains one of the most controversial aspects of the field of psychology. My argument remains that the determination of a person’s level of intelligence is a complex exercise that cannot be achieved through the use of a single test.
The proponents of the opinion that schooling increases intelligence would have it that the years in the school be increased to allow for more accruement of intelligence. This, however, does come out majorly as true when the level of intelligence is tied to the accumulation of knowledge and skills (Carlsson, Dahl and Rooth 71). On the opposing side, one does realize that the accumulation of knowledge and skills is as a result of more factors, ranging from genes to the environment that a person is brought up.
Americans' average years of schooling have increased from a median of 8 in 1910 to a median of 14 in 2010. If school makes you smarter, then we ought to have gotten noticeably smarter in the last century (Wolf, 73).
This in fact means that intelligence, as a matter of fact, is a function of several elements that have a compounding effect on what is measured as IQ (Wolf 33). The measurable outcome cannot be pegged on any particular factor as its causative, and this is because of the inconsistencies that can be found in various studies.
Conclusively, the notion of school making a person smarter remains as contentious as it was in the first place. The arguments can be as many as the proponents and opponents of the topic. However, some key points can be used to direct the argument towards the desired direction. For instance, it is important to realize that, in as much as there may be many correlations between positive life outcomes and education, the two do not exhibit any form of casual relationship. In essence, more in-depth research needs to be conducted in regards to the correlation between the two. Finally, the realization that intelligence is a constituent of numerous factor does quickly eliminate the debate about education making a person smarter. It becomes apparent that different factors come into consideration in shaping an individual’s level of intelligence.
Works Cited
Carlsson, M. Dahl, G. B. & Rooth, D-O. The Effect of Schooling on Cognitive Skills. NBER Working Paper No. 18484 October 2012.
Willingham, Daniel B. Cognition: The Thinking Animal. Upper Saddle River, NJ [u.a.: Prentice Hall, 2001. Print.
Willingham, Daniel T. Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for Your Classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2009. Internet resource.
Wolf, Alison. Does Education Matter?: Myths About Education and Economic Growth. London [u.a.: Penguin Books, 2002. Print.