MEASURING INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES DEMONSTRATED BY STUDENTS AND PRACTICED BY TEACHERS IN GOVERNMENT COLLEGES OF SUKKUR DISTRICT

Abstract

The cultivation of intellectual qualities is a central aim of meaningful education, yet classroom practices in Pakistani public institutions have largely remained examination-oriented and content-driven. Anchored in Bertrand Russell’s philosophy of education, this study examines the extent to which key intellectual qualities—curiosity, critical thinking, concentration, open-mindedness, imagination, and scientific outlook—are fostered by teachers and demonstrated by higher secondary students in government colleges of district Sukkur, Sindh. Adopting a quantitative, descriptive-correlational design, data were collected from 180 students and 40 teachers across four colleges representing both urban and rural contexts. Two structured questionnaires were used to capture students’ perceptions of teachers’ classroom practices and teachers’ evaluations of students’ intellectual demonstration. Descriptive statistics and independent-samples t-tests were employed for data analysis.The findings reveal that both teachers’ practices and students’ intellectual qualities exist at a moderate level, indicating partial realization of intellectual development within current instructional practices. While curiosity and critical thinking received relatively higher mean scores, qualities such as concentration, imagination, and open-mindedness appeared less consistently cultivated. A statistically significant difference was observed between urban and rural colleges, with rural institutions demonstrating higher mean scores across all intellectual qualities. These findings challenge common assumptions about urban educational advantage and highlight the role of pedagogical culture and teacher–student interaction.The study contributes empirical evidence to ongoing debates on intellectual development in Pakistani education and underscores the need for intentional pedagogical strategies and policy alignment to move beyond rote learning toward the cultivation of intellectually autonomous learners.