Recently I received a letter from a high school senior who described himself as coming from a disadvantaged background. He had a strong desire to go on to college in hopes of becoming a lawyer, and he was wondering about his IQ and how much stock he should put in it in deciding his further course. I doubt if there is much more sense in worrying about one’s own IQ than in worrying about the age at which one will die, as predicted by the insurance company’s actuarial tables. Among other things, I wrote the following to my student inquirer: ‘My own attitude toward tests, when I was a student, was not to give much thought to them but simply to set my sights on what seemed to me a realistic goal and then do my best to achieve it
There was this boxer that had an IQ of 140. Mohamed Ali’s IQ was much lower, but Ali was so much more intelligent in his boxing. There are a lot of skills that determine a person’s success in life, and I don’t think IQ counts for all of them. And I have to question the wisdom of someone with an IQ of 140 choosing to box.
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. No one tests for everything, and I pass tests easily as most focus on more common academia or logic. Put me in a team sport or out in the wilderness to test those abilities, and I will fail miserably.
Iq tests are false. I have had some of the easy ones rate me at higher then everyone and some of the harder ones rate me lower then everyone. What your iq is doesn’t tell how smart you really are.
Howard Gardner. Carol Dweck has done similar work on doing well in school. How sometimes studying is more important than how smart a person is or called.
IQ ends up hampering one’s growth I think. Doesn’t matter if it is high or low. Unless there is obvious mental disability and gauging mental abilities is necessary.
I think it’s part of my personality and the experiences I’ve been through that I’m looking for a precise answer to the question ‘What is my IQ?’. Looking at things from a purely intellectual perspective I can accept that trying to get that precise single figure is a thankless task, and that it over simplifies a complex subject.
A range that covers the effect of good/average/bad non g factors makes more sense to me. I’d like to think I’m at least fairly intelligent, as a counter balance to being less than competent at a very long list of other things.
I’d very much like to see a system based on support needs as opposed to IQ. One that takes into account adaptive functioning <IQ. I do badly adaptive functioning wise compared to what might be expected based on my intelligence level. That has not helped re the treatment I’ve. received as a person with a chronic and severe mental illness. It took decades for how things actually are, rather than how MH professionals demanded they should be, to be acknowledged. That meant decades of very negative comments and sod all help and support for the things I struggled with .
It’s too late to fix the damage caused to me. I have to live with the effects as best I can, but it would be good if in the future people like me weren’t subjected to the crap I’ve been subjected to over the years, as an autistic and severely mentally ill person.
I have tried telling people around me to not call their kid smart. Instead on making sure they play hard and study. I know how much I was hampered by thinking myself as smart. But sad thing is conecpt of being smart and high IQ kid seems to have deeply rooted in society. Most parents want to call their kid smart. Others to do so as well. But why would one study and play with other kids when they are superior smart high IQ kids.
F. I’ve been mixing that one up. It’s a significant one, too, as Gardner’s theory is something I always share with students who consider themselves stupid or less than because of grades, tests, etc.
I never took an IQ test. I was always worried about results.
It’s a significant one, too, as Gardner’s theory is something I always share with students who consider themselves stupid or less than because of grades, tests, etc.