hi how are you
doing well thank you for agreeing to be
interviewed
my pleasure
um so can we start off with
would you mind explaining the difference
between academic intelligence
and emotional intelligence
absolutely
um academic intelligence is what most
people consider when they're thinking of
uh intelligence it's looking at iq it's
looking at
knowledge base like having a high level
of understanding and skill in math in
social studies and sciences in maybe
foreign language in language arts
it's it's the grades
it's how much you know
um how well you're doing on an sat test
how well you're doing on a an essay
that is
academic intelligence it's basically
like what's your what is your iq
and what grades do you get in school
emotional intelligence though
is much deeper
it
it includes how aware you are how
self-aware you are
how it
how well you're able to manage your
emotions
um social awareness
um can you see like how your words are
affecting others how you're getting
along in a group
it's your relationship skills it's your
communi ability to communicate
effectively with others
um
it's being able to make resp
responsible decisions
um let's see it's also being able to
talk about your emotions
and so as you can see like those are
much harder to assign a grade to
but they are
the foundation
for
to live a happy healthy successful life
okay so what i'm hearing is that
academic intelligence is more like stuff
you learn in school and emotional
intelligence is more
uh how you socialize with others and
it's more difficult to measure yes
okay
um so why do you value emotional
intelligence over academic intelligence
well
i think because when i really look at
people that focus more on emotional
intelligence
they
they are the people that make the better
leaders they are the people that are the
better team players
and i'm not saying like one is
you know i'm not saying that your
emotional intelligence that like you
should ignore your academic intelligence
no absolutely not
but
with emotional intelligence it's the
foundation
what i see out here a lot in santa clara
county is there being such a focus on
academic
achievement
but kids are super stressed out people
are really overwhelmed overworked and
stressed out
because there's not any focus on their
emotional intelligence on how to manage
your emotions how to manage your time
how to uh
make good decisions
and so i'm sorry i'm going on a little
bit of uh no no no
aside what was your question again
it was why do you value emotional
intelligence over academics why do i
value i value it because i want for
myself and my child to have a happy
and healthy life
and i think that with just focusing on
academic intelligence
you might be financially successful
but
i see a lot of people who are very
unhappy and since my goal in life is to
have a
happy healthy enjoyable life i focus a
lot on our
our um
emotional intelligence
what i what i see a lot too are people
that have
you know that
we do
we define success by you know having a
big house and a nice car in these great
vacations
but people are but their quality of life
is not that good
they work too much and they're too
stressed out
where i don't
i don't uh that's not how i
i uh what i consider success i consider
success as being happy and enjoying life
i think that's a great kind of ideal to
hold
and you recognize that your thought
process is very different to a lot of
parents here who are very tiger moms you
know very you know
work work work
um
so
you said that you were looking for a
better future for your own son so what
were you looking for height for in high
schools
for your son
well i
i do value
um
academic achievement i do value
academics absolutely but i find that
most schools in this area are do have a
focus on academics but i wanted one
that also integrates
uh emotional intelligence
or
we call it sel skills social emotional
learning right into the classroom that
it's not something that they do in
addition
to the academics but it's something
that's integrated right into
how you do it um and a lot of that
uh
falls on the responsibility of the
administrations and the
and teachers
to learn how to integrate this
because then he can have that academic
achievement and learn all this content
without the unnecessary
stress
and anxiety that i see
that a lot of kids in the bay area
suffer from that's very true and i'm
gonna also point out that because i i
don't feel that i feel that
too many people are lacking
in
um
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their uh emotional
intelligence
that they're ashamed that they're
stressed out
and so they hide the fact that they're
stressed or anxious but in fact they
really are
and right there that shows
a lack of emotional intelligence
because you know if you're feeling
stressed if you're feeling anxious
there's nothing to be ashamed about that
it's just you know learning how to deal
with it in a in a healthy productive
manner and do you think that that traces
back to the schools
um
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yeah in the schools and then the
families that we
uh for kids yes it traces back to the
families you grow up in and your schools
but then as an adult i think it's up to
us to open our minds and try to see that
there are better things
better ways to uh better and healthier
ways to live
and i think with schools that it is uh
it is getting more popular
but i see that the schools around the
world that are the most successful
have a really strong focus on emotional
intelligence
well thank you for your interview
you are welcome okay
