A Case for
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
An educator's goal is to present any learning moment in ways that will
be palatable to several types of learners. Our schools have been
over-focused on the elements of IQ.
It is good to see that this is
changing. A search of Amazon.com using the key word “emotional intelligence” identified more than 16, 000 books.
Every group of learners is both unique and diverse.
EQ emphasizes the fact that all of us have preferred styles of interaction.
"We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them."
~ Albert Einstein
Preconceptions
kill
Originality
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Labels & Nouns are Coffins
As Einstein so aptly stated above, it will take new, original ways of thinking to successfully navigate our rapidly changing world. But how do we shift into perceiving differently? One way might be to allow for not knowing and allowing each moment to take you one step closer to a new, even unique understanding.
We live in times of unprecedented change. With this intense transformation, we have no idea what the world will look like five years from now. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Faith is taking the first step even though you don't see the whole staircase." Our over-reliance on certainty, labeling and authorities outside ourselves have provided us with a sense of security ...up till now.
Labels arise from preconceptions. Nouns are labels that help us to grasp what is being re-PRESENTED, for it is from having first been introduced to a person, place or thing that we are able to apply the label and then, to believe we "know" it at a later date. However, frequently, that label makes the person, place or thing "static" and we don't pause to consider it is actually in the process of becoming, changing, is fluid and in-flux. We limit ourselves when we rely so heavily on grasping for immediate recognition via these static meanings (left-brain hemisphere), for it is most often simply a piece of the bigger picture (right hemisphere).
The way we attend to and perceive things has the ability to change the situation. This understanding is key to creating new solutions for existing problems. When we come from a left-brained approach, things are narrowed, specific, black or white, and certain; thinking moves from A to B in a linear fashion, is made of bits and pieces, and we are better able to manipulate the world via mechanical processes. The right-brain, on the other hand, understands more holistically, like a living web, is open, original and unique, less certain, sees shades of gray, makes connections and relationships and is without preconception. Both halves of our brains are involved in absolutely everything, BUT each attends in a unique fashion. Like a map, the left-brain's version of the world is useful, but the map is NOT the world.
When we continue to do things as they've always been done, we create feedback loops that have us learning more about what we think we know. Due to the valued principle of cost-effectiveness, being given the freedom to experiment and make mistakes is frowned upon. Discovery happens when prescribed rules and regulations aren't followed to the letter. Originality arises via stepping out of the box. It arises from making mistakes, and is bolstered by creativity, intuition and emotional intelligence.
Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, creativity expert, says that BOTH critical thinking and creativity are needed to find new solutions to our problems, "A creative process may begin with a flash of a new idea or with a hunch. It may just start as noodling around with a problem, getting some fresh ideas along the way. It is a process, not a single event, and genuine creative processes involve critical thinking as well as imaginative insights and fresh ideas."
So, what will deliver the new ways of thinking that Einstein suggests? We're going to need every ounce of ingenuity, imagination, and innovation to confront these problems, and how we attend to the world governs what we find. At present, we seem to prefer rule-bound, inside the box thinking over originality and discovery. Most schools don't fund the arts, mindfulness practices, and movement. We deem emotional literacy and creative coursework as "soft" and unnecessary. Instead of promoting innovation, we seem to be educating it our of our kids via standardized testing and No Child Left Behind mandates that try to equalize the playing field instead of lighting a fuse to ignite a child's unique, creative fire. Far too often, within our schools, being a maverick on the cutting edge or having a passion for something out of the "norm" is medicated or educated out of us in favor of conformity and adhering to standards. Kids whose talents don't fit the academic model of intelligence loose interest. Struggle and suffering arise when we cling to and grasp at partial truths that no longer seem to be working. We need to make space for life's serendipitous moments and not strangle them while controlling for preconceived outcomes.
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“I live on Earth at present, and I don't know what I am.
I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun.
I seem to be a verb,
an evolutionary process — an integral function of the universe.”
~R. Buckminster Fuller
When change is occurring at an unprecedented rate demanding the ability to deal with the new in each and every moment, it is important to be more receptive to possibilities, to new ways of understanding and to multiple intelligences. Integrating critical thinking with the creative process leads to balance.
EQ Rising
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is one such pathway leading to originality, innovation, discovery of purpose and of personal meaning.