The kind of intelligence that Montaigne was really keen on he called "wisdom". Importantly, he said that one could be wise without ever going to a university. All you need in order to be wise, he thought, is a humility, a modesty, and an acceptance of your intellectual limitations. Wise people don't need to know everything. They can also accept that many events are outside of their control. They accept the limitations of their minds as much as their bodies.
What Montaigne was telling us is that if you come to university, you get very good at remembering lots of facts, you will pick up a lot of information, but you won't necessarily be able to apply it to your life.
Montaigne of course recognized that some people are cleverer than others; it is just the way our society identifies them which is wrong. In particular, there is something wrong with the exam system; it rewards the wrong thing: learning rather than wisdom.
Beginning around the 19:30 mark, the video shows a university administering an examination in wisdom. I love this idea and it will be the subject of a few posts:
First, I have reproduced some of the test questions in a survey below. If you are so inclined, answer anonymously at least three of the nine questions and yours truly will grade it and publish the results next week.
Then, to be fair, I will publish my own responses and allow you to grade me.
