Intelligence
The intelligent person, young or old, meeting a new situation or problem, opens herself up to it; she tries to take in with mind and senses everything she can about it; she thinks about it instead of about herself or what it might cause to happen to her; she grapples with it boldly, imaginatively, resourcefully, and if not confidently, at least hopefully; if she fails to master it, she looks without shame or fear at her mistakes and learns what she can from them. This is intelligence. Clearly its roots lie in a certain feeling about life, and one’s self with respect to life. Just as clearly, unintelligence is not what most psychologists seem to suppose, the same thing as intelligence only less of it. It is an entirely different style of behaviour, arising out of an entirely different set of attitudes.
John Holt: How Children Fail
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