Is Intelligence Even A Thing? (Yes...)

                 Intelligence is incredibly hard, in my opinion, to articulate in a clear, concise, but thorough definition. Intelligence is such a huge umbrella that contains so many skills, ways of thinking and personality traits. In no way does one's intelligence rely solely on their ability to solve math problems or write a speedy, well-developed essay. The definition we talked about in class said that it involved a combination of one's prior knowledge and experiences flexibly to accomplish new tasks. On the one hand, intelligence is starting to sound a lot like a constructivist's goal in life. But I also want to note that intelligence is not only one definable trait that you either have or don't have. Rather I keep picturing it as this umbrella that contains many skills etc., like creativity for instance.
                 I know a lot of individuals who are incredibly book smart and earn excellent grades. However, some of those people lack creativity and wit so much so that I argue whether they're intelligent at all. Getting answers right and have a quick-paced brain are great tools to have, especially for a student seeking a college degree and thus a good job and future. However, there are many answers to problems in life that cannot be found in a text book, and there are ways of thinking that only a creative person can accomplish, and I believe these are right up next to intelligence in importance.
               Relating all this to constructivism, I prefer to think of one's learning as a giant toolbox that continues to fill up with different tools that help them with different tasks, skills, and subject areas, the more they learn. Learning is an accumulation of these things- and intelligence is merely one of them. Learning is not limited to an acquiring of intelligence, or a number on an IQ test (as many people see these as the same thing). This is why my ACT score did tell me some things about the skills I had acquired (or not acquired) in certain subject areas, including simple test-taking, but it did not reflect my overall learning experience up until that point. Many things were overlooked, and that is something I find problematic about testing in our society.