The Importance of Being Articulate
By Amy Barr at The Lukeion Project
Students
were once advised to add an AP class or two to their high school schedule to distinguish
one’s transcript and college application. Now our most ambitious kids are
taking three, four, or even five AP classes PER year of high school at the risk of utter burn out. Though such a classes offer the carrot of
possible college credits and weighted grades (an A grade factors as a 5 instead of a 4 to boost one’s high
school GPA), most colleges have stopped accepting weighted grades. Now that many applicants come to the table with dozens of "free" credit hours earned, many colleges have continued
to raise the score required for a student to get college credit from an AP class. Very competitive schools now accept
only a score of 5 to grant college credit for a student’s AP course. Universities don't enjoy losing loads of cash over all those AP credits so they've made it harder on students.
Students are encouraged to prepare for the SAT but drive themselves to exhaustion trying
to place in the top percentile. The exam was originally intended to assess
students' readiness for college in terms of literacy, numeracy and writing
skills. It provided an even measure of that student, whether she completed her work in a one-room schoolhouse or a massive mega-high school. As I understand it, the essay portion of the SAT was discontinued after the
2021 exam. "Literacy" is gauged by how well students can comprehend short stories and pick the best multiple choice answer. Over 1,400 four-year colleges
have discontinued the requirement for a standardized test like the
SAT or the ACT for a variety of reasons.
Students can set themselves apart by writing an excellent college application essay. Once-upon-a-time, these essays offered proof that an applicant could articulate his or her academic potential, aspirations, and college readiness. Now many colleges require a 250-word essay or—if one is lucky—a 500-word essay (about the amount I’ve written already in this blog) in which a student must distinguish herself above all others by answering prompts like “what’s the hardest part about being a teenager,” or “tell us about your worst anxiety.”
Meanwhile, some students forego important life skills and experiences in the mad dash to impress an admissions counselor. Many skip attending summer camps, learning a new instrument, getting involved in community theater, or getting in touch with nature through gardening or animal care. I won't even mention that many get through high school without finishing a whole book, learning how to cook, changing a tire, balancing a check book, learning something creative like painting or metal working, or sitting on a porch to chat for an hour with a grandparent (no phone).
WHAT IF students (with the support of parents, and educators) started preparing instead for competency and excellence in life and, as a lovely side-effect, also enjoyed a multitude of benefits from wielding that competency? College education, trade school, medical school, wilderness training, or a wide variety of other appealing life options could suddenly be on the table along with overall improved life-satisfaction. Sounds great! What’s the plan?
WHAT IF we spent our best, brightest, and most youthful energy on simply becoming more articulate?
Howard Gardner includes Linguistic Intelligence in his multiple intelligence theory, a comprehensive non-exclusionary view of human learning potential that accounts for far more than one’s ability to deduce the correct answer under pressure on a multi-choice college readiness exam. Linguistic Intelligence is the quality that allows people to understand language (spoken, written), as well as to communicate with others effectively, fluently, and competently. High linguistic intelligence has been linked to improved problem solving, as well as to increased abstract reasoning so there's plenty of room in STEM fields for this factor.
Having a
high Linguistic Intelligence offers a clear advantage in business, politics,
sales / marketing, law, medicine, and entertainment as well as communications of all
kinds. Naturally, this is the super power you need if you want any profession in the humanities (literature, linguistics,
journalism, economics, psychology, history, political science, philosophy, and
sociology). Being well-spoken and well-written will open doors for a lifetime.
Once you walk through the doors of your choice, you’ll feel comfortable being there because you literally speak the language.
How Can One Build One’s Linguistic IQ?
- Associate with those who have a high Linguistic IQ
- Read excellent pieces of literature written by those with high Linguistic IQ (do not limit yourself to recordings of books - grow comfortable with real books)
- View movies and interviews of others with high Linguistic IQ
- When
you don’t understand a word used, look it up and add it to your daily list of
new words to master.
- Keep challenging the linguistic difficulty level of things you read and view
- Challenge yourself to write more and more proficiently and then expertly.
- Challenge yourself to
write more daily. Add journaling or writing a blog (even if nobody reads it)
- Develop the mental discipline of taking notes when listening to lectures, classes, interviews
- Put yourself in courses (or take on personal challenges) that place demands on you to continually improve your writing proficiency, speed, and ease.
- Challenge yourself to grow your own personal linguistic database
- Master and maintain excellence in English grammar, a subject that has been dumbed down or removed entirely from many formal education programs
- Intentionally learn new English vocabulary (give yourself a daily 10 new words)
- Learn foundational languages like Latin or Classical Greek
- Travel as much as possible
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