As teenagers, we often wonder, “How smart am I?” However, the question we should be asking ourselves is: “How am I smart?”
On June 14th 2011, we were fortunate enough to hear from Dr. Mark Gandolfi, a psychologist and counselor at St. John’s. His aim was to get us to “understand our brains without losing our minds.” However, the year 12 students of Island School had the opportunity to learn so much more. Dr. Gandolfi talked about the eight different types of smartness, and how instead of pressuring ourselves to be ‘smart’, in only curriculum based areas taught by the school system, we should be focusing on other strengths that make us ‘smart’ as well.
It is a commonly known fact that boys and girls act in different ways and respond differently to situations, but it is less known that this is due to the structure of our brains. The differences in the brains of boys and girls result in certain behaviors, for example, males think about sex 200 times a day whereas females, only 20! Instead of feeling like we were being given an educational lecture about our brains (which probably would have interested very few students), the whole year was stimulated by the lively presentation given by Dr. Gandolfi. Along with understanding and learning about the brain, the harmful effects of substances such as drugs and alcohol were also conveyed to us. Being students at an international school in Hong Kong where nightlife is a huge part of our culture, we have often been warned about the effects of such substances, but usually these do not have an effect on most students. However, after learning that our brains have not yet developed enough, to withstand the effects of alcohol and drugs, students here at Island can hopefully think twice before their actions.
Thank you to Dr. Mark Gandolfi for a great speaker’s hour!
Island School Speaker's Hour 