Public Speaking....

K...fine, Adrian....I'm 2 lazy 2 send it 2 u so I'll paste it here....

Good morning I bid to my intelligent audience. Yes, you heard me correctly: “my intelligent audience”. Now....when I said “intelligent”, what is the picture which forms in your mind? Is it the image of a geeky, unsociable person? Or....do you imagine an intelligent person as someone who can own the whole cybercafé when gaming? When the word “intelligence” comes to mind, some of you might even visualize a string of A’s and 4-flats floating in the air. Today, I’ll be talking about the word “intelligence”. Hopefully, by the end of my speech, most, if not all of you will see “intelligence” in a different light and then appreciate the intelligence in yourselves.

Firstly, let’s look at our society’s perception regarding the word “intelligence”. The Malaysian education system is largely responsible for shaping our mindsets into believing that excelling in academics is the only form of intelligence. For example, I’m sure many of you have overheard parents praising their friends’ children for scoring good results but have you ever in your life heard someone’s parent praising a child for being able to go solo against 5 players in DOTA and still win!!!”? There is a 99% chance that none of you has ever heard any child in Malaysia being praised as “intelligent” for a reason other than obtaining good exam results. Other skills such as gaming proficiencies are simply labelled as useless hobbies.

Next, let’s have a look at a famous psychologist’s definition of “intelligence”. In 1983, Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences became known worldwide. In his theory, Gardner rejected the idea of one’s abilities or gifts arising from his or her general intelligence, thus eliminating the word “intelligence” as a general meaning. Instead, Gardner classified “intelligence” into 8 main categories covering various aspects of a person’s life. For example, a person who is bodily-kinaesthetic intelligent will be good in physical activities such as sports. On the other hand, one who possesses verbal-linguistic intelligence is typically good in speaking, reading, writing, and other language related matters. Basically, Howard Gardner’s theory implies that each and every one of us is intelligent, only in different areas.

Last but no means least, I myself will proceed to question the very definition of intelligence. To me, anyone is intelligent as long as he or she believes so. There is no definite meaning of intelligence. One who does badly in class may be a prodigy as a working adult, shooting up the career ladder. Conversely, a person who can memorize books and excel in exams may be capable to only do that: memorize but not apply the knowledge. Now...which person can we categorize as intelligent? Or...are both people intelligent in their respective fields? Other than the stereotyping process of "intelligence", the fact that some people call others or even themselves dumb simply annoys me. You may be not so proficient in some fields but I'm sure you know you are good at something, be it gaming, sports, socializing, or just anything!!!

As a conclusion, everyone has the potential in them to become famous, great people in their respective fields. Unfortunately, our education system seems to do nothing other than prohibit non-academic intelligence from being developed. Before I end my speech, I would like to reinstate that intelligence has various interpretations as I have elaborated earlier but NO ONE, I repeat, NO ONE, is dumb, stupid, useless, idiotic, or such. Only people who are stupid enough to call themselves stupid are in fact, stupid. Hopefully, your views regarding the word “intelligence” has broadened. Thus, I end my speech with a sincere thank you to all the intelligent people present for just listening and sharing your intelligence. May you appreciate your very own intelligence. Thank you.