...either you got it or you don't.

Activity 5.2


There is a popular T.V show on USA right now called Suits. It features a man who "consumes knowledge like you've never seen before" (his words, not mine).I posted a link to the trailer because it introduces the title character as person of fantastic talents. My question is this, is this character more successful at "consuming knowledge" because he is capable of storing infinite amounts of information or because he possesses superior skill at retrieving information perceived from memory? What do you think? 

This character on the show reminds of the blessed group of people James refers to in Chapter 12: "And, when both memory and philosophy combine together in one person, then indeed we have the highest sort of intellectual efficiency. Your Walter Scotts, your Leibnitzes, your Gladstones, and your Goethes, all your folio copies of mankind, belong to this type," (James, 79-80).  This seems to suggest that either you've got the gift to recall information and relate it efficiently (and often times, brilliantly) to the world or you don't. It would seem that we are highly influenced, as James lists, by the people who "got it".

James does go on to mention people who can "work out results or recollect where in the books to find them" (80). I would imagine that most people, including myself, fall into this mass - people who are indeed capable,  but just not the most capable. I once had the misfortune of researching for a literature paper alongside of an individual that James would categorize as one with "the highest sort of intellectual efficiency". We had the same topic; I don't remember what it was, but I bet he would. While he was whizzing along, recalling quotes, studies, statistics, criticisms and lectures, I was anxiously flipping through crusty book pages in hopes for a measly reference. Eventually, I did find all the resources I needed (after several more trips to the library and hours on the computer) and did finally complete my paper. However, my classmate had been done for a week, spending no more than a few hours researching and crafting his essay. Both of us received high marks on our papers, but he was much more efficient and economical with his search.

Another individual with "highest sort of intellectual efficiency" is the Matt Damon's character, Will, in the movie Good Will Hunting. In a memorable scene, a pompous graduate student, after being utterly decimated by Will in an intellectual spitting match, predicts while he is successful with his costly educational degrees, Will will be "serving his kids fries". Will's reply is what interests me: "Well, at least I won't be unoriginal". (Watch the clip from 1:10 to see the interaction).

The graduate student could recall with accuracy the information being taught in his Harvard classes; he could recite whole phrases from complex text. But what he lacked was Will's ability to blend his recollection of the subject matter with his own experiences on the matter, thus creating new and original thoughts. The way I see it, the graduate student's education is not serving its full purpose. Now, as teachers, we focus on discovering new ways to make it easier for our students to recall information.  My opinion may be cheapened by the fact that I have not yet begun to teach, but it does seem that, if education stops merely at the recollection of information, we are not providing our students with the widest array of possibilities. Students should be encouraged not only to recall information from classes, but to go further, to formulate their own opinions, thoughts and discoveries based on what is learned. Originality should be prized more highly.