If you want to make parents happy, tell them their child is smart.
We all want our kids to be intelligent, and most of us try to predict whether Junior is going to be another Einstein or an intellectual cucumber.
Schools used to help by giving kids IQ tests. The “IQ” is a numerical score on a test of intelligence. The test results come back as a number that indicates an individual’s ability to solve problems, think critically, analyze concepts, and reason. The higher the score, the greater the mental ability.
The average IQ is 100, which is considered normal, a category into which 68 percent of us fit. “Bright” begins at an IQ of 120, and “genius” begins at 145. The lowest score of those who can even cope with the test is 55, with those scoring below that considered to be mentally challenged.
But IQ doesn’t necessarily determine your success in life. A “genius” with no diligence or determination can wind up homeless and unemployed. Those with lower IQ’s who are exposed to many new experiences and ideas and are more stimulated to learn and apply themselves can be very successful in life, especially if they have a higher social IQ — the ability to relate to people— or a high physical “IQ” like an athlete or a high mechanical IQ.
The IQ’s of students became a big concern back in the 1960s when America got into competition with Russia over that country’s Sputnik launch. Which nation would produce the thinkers who could get their country to the moon and beyond? (I’ll give you a hint— it wasn’t me.)
But I profited from the new academic emphasis that came from that national challenge because our curriculum in California, where I went to school, became more rigorous. Standards were raised so that U.S. students could be better educated to take America into outer space ahead of Russia.
I have to say, that rigor is in such contrast to the typical school curriculum today, which is more designed to make kids feel good than achieve well. I don’t see that we are concerned about making our kids competent any more, just complacent about their lack of knowledge.
I don’t know whether schools even give IQ tests anymore. They may have discontinued them over concern that the high IQ kids would get the big head and the low IQ kids would stop trying. Even in my day when we took those tests, the counselors were reluctant to give out the scores, maybe for those same reasons.
So if you can’t get an IQ test for Junior, how can you know whether he’s smart enough to brag about on Facebook?
Various online articles suggest that our behaviors can indicate high IQ.
Talking to yourself was once a sign of approaching madness, but scientists now say that high IQ people talk to themselves. I did that as a child, telling myself long, complex tales about living out or being a cave woman. Did I have a high IQ or was I just bored?
Being a first-born child often contributes to a high IQ. I was an “only” so I had to be more self-reliant. I hope that counts.
High IQ people tend to be night owls. In the summers when I didn’t have to get up for school I would read or work on a project until 3 or 4 a.m. I figured nothing was going to happen before 11 a.m. that would involve me, and I’m still that way, except that now I have to get up early because something on me hurts by 6:30 every morning.
High IQ folks are adaptable. They can swing into new, unfamiliar situations and make themselves at home. I have always had that ability, but the older I get the more I appreciate being in the same place and knowing what to expect there. Maybe my IQ is shrinking with my height?
The high IQ person also appreciates solitude, as I always have. The lower IQ person needs more stimulation from others to activate their minds. Just trying to remember what I’m doing when I’m by myself stimulates me just fine.
High IQ folks are better at managing emotions and controlling themselves. That’s me. “Never let them see you sweat.” Emotion keeps you from being reasonable and seeing reality.
On the negative side, the higher your IQ, the more worry and anxiety you may experience because, unlike the lower IQ person, you can envision the results of events and your own actions. You can see negative consequences.
Being messy is also a sign of high IQ. Mess doesn’t bother you because you can draw order out of chaos (that’s what a genius can do — see the something in the nothing). But I fear that my messiness is due more to laziness than intelligence.
You high IQ-ers are funnier, can appreciate dark humor, and think outside the box. You are generous, modest, open-minded and able to handle challenges.
The more I look at these signs of a high IQ, though, the more I’m glad the counselors didn’t publish our IQ scores. I might have gotten really discouraged about my life possibilities if I had known that just talking to yourself doesn’t mean you’re smart enough to take America to the moon.
And my score could’ve meant that instead of bragging about my creativity in talking to myself, my parents should have called the Mental Health Department for me.
