Even though I'm a pretty sharp guy (if I do say so myself... I'm just kidding, other people say it for me all the time) and a good test-taker, I've never particularly liked the foundational principles behind the SAT's and other "intelligence" measuring exams. These tests are very linear in what they are trying to determine and neglect the other various ways people operate. This piece in MSN has a great illustration: "After all, intelligence clearly isn't in the brain, it is the brain. It's less like the oil in the engine and more like the efficiency of the engine as a whole. Every aspect of the engine affects its efficiency, from how finely milled the surfaces are to the grade of oil in the block to the design of the engine."
Ever since I took a class called "How to Create a Meaningful Life" in college (don't laugh, I got actual credit for it), I've been a firm supporter of Multiple Intelligences: linguistic (word smart), logical-mathematical number/reasoning smart), spatial (picture smart), bodily-kinesthetic (body smart), musical (music smart), interpersonal (people smart), interpersonal (self smart), and naturalistic (nature smart). (I'm sure there are others but those were the ones we discussed.) The idea of various individuals exhibiting strengths in different human capacities makes sense to me. The practice of utilizing one standard to ascertain how "smart" a person really is based on one or two of those disciplines (namely linguistic and logical-mathematical) is so narrow-focused and unrealistic and does not makes sense to me; people are so diverse and multi-faceted that to determine the true "intelligence" of an individual takes a more encompassing approach and wider perspective. Now granted, these exams are used specifically for the purposes of determining mental aptitude, but it seems that as a society and government, the message being peddled is that success in school and, therefore, in life is predicated upon just how high one's score is. This results in additional pressure and emphasis to excel in areas that will bolster these scores (being Asian, I know first hand about this pressure) while alienating, to a certain degree, other areas which won't. When is success in personal relationships with your friends and family ever discussed in school? Or the notion of being comfortable with yourself encouraged? Now I'm not talking about a holistic approach to education; that's something different. I'm just asking if it would be advantageous to society as well as ourselves to elevate the different strengths of people instead of conforming them to a couple.