Is IQ the be-all end-all?

[Anonymous]

So… if a kid is deemed to have an average IQ. That means: this kid is average intelligence?

[Anonymous]

IQ is pretty important, for academics. But hard work and persistence are the other half of the equation. One can make up for the other's lack and vice versa. When you have neither, then academics may not be for you.

[Anonymous]

Yes, average IQ means average intelligence. All that means is that the majority of the population has a similar IQ. It does not measure EQ, sociability, resilience, grit, likability or foretell future academic or career success, happiness, earning potential or anything else. So in answer to your post subject: not the be-all, end-all, at all. Not even half the picture.

[Anonymous]

Some of the most miserable people I know are high IQ.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher and have attended many IEP meetings over the years. Most of these students have IQs in the lower to mid 70s so I’m happy with my son’s average IQ. My brother had a high IQ and zero common sense. He dropped out of college and defaulted on his student loan. It took forever for him to recover from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IQ is pretty important, for academics. But hard work and persistence are the other half of the equation. One can make up for the other's lack and vice versa. When you have neither, then academics may not be for you.

This. IQ of 100 + hard worker will get a lot further than IQ of 120 + lazy in school and often in the workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, average IQ means average intelligence. All that means is that the majority of the population has a similar IQ. It does not measure EQ, sociability, resilience, grit, likability or foretell future academic or career success, happiness, earning potential or anything else. So in answer to your post subject: not the be-all, end-all, at all. Not even half the picture.

+1. I have a cousin whose IQ is genius level. I mean 99.9 something percentile. He’s also deeply schizophrenic and paranoid. Before that set in during his late 20s, his parents sent him to elite private schools, where he couldn’t fit in socially and became a discipline problem. Ended up with middling academic performance, went to a very average college, dropped out after a year, went to a different one, took years to complete his degree and got flagged as a violent threat to the school at one point. Now he can barely hold a job and thinks intelligence agencies are after him.

He’s still super smart and can do incredible math and consume mass amounts of information quickly. But no one cares. He’s one small step from being homeless.

[Anonymous]

IQ of 110-135 is pretty privileged and yes it makes life easier.

< 100 and > 135 will struggle in different ways but as a parent you should understand that and try to mitigate

Just like my kids IQ is between 110 and 135 but they are dyslexic, it sucks but we mitigate

I'd find ways to work on EQ which is waaaaayyy more important in being a successful human being than IQ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, average IQ means average intelligence. All that means is that the majority of the population has a similar IQ. It does not measure EQ, sociability, resilience, grit, likability or foretell future academic or career success, happiness, earning potential or anything else. So in answer to your post subject: not the be-all, end-all, at all. Not even half the picture.

+1. I have a cousin whose IQ is genius level. I mean 99.9 something percentile. He’s also deeply schizophrenic and paranoid. Before that set in during his late 20s, his parents sent him to elite private schools, where he couldn’t fit in socially and became a discipline problem. Ended up with middling academic performance, went to a very average college, dropped out after a year, went to a different one, took years to complete his degree and got flagged as a violent threat to the school at one point. Now he can barely hold a job and thinks intelligence agencies are after him.

He’s still super smart and can do incredible math and consume mass amounts of information quickly. But no one cares. He’s one small step from being homeless.

Google, "the law of diminishing returns in IQ".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IQ is pretty important, for academics. But hard work and persistence are the other half of the equation. One can make up for the other's lack and vice versa. When you have neither, then academics may not be for you.

This. IQ of 100 + hard worker will get a lot further than IQ of 120 + lazy in school and often in the workplace.

I'd say lazy < working hard < working smart

We need to stop with the work hard mantra and white knuckling is positive.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely not. It makes things easier, sure. But hard work and perseverance are just as important.

[Anonymous]

IQ is an accurate test to estimate a latent construct dubbed the "G factor" or general intelligence. This construct has been shown to be very predictive of success in scientific, academic, management, engineering, legal, medical, and other intellectually demanding fields. G and IQ are age-adjusted and are temporally stable (don't vary much as a person ages.) An average IQ at a population level (100) indicates that the individual should not pursue college, and will be much more successful in the trades. The good news is, he will be much happier and wealthier than the 110 IQ kids (1 SD to the right of the mean) who try to be successful in dwindling white collar careers where AI and offshoring are already destroying whole industries. Don't fight genetics; you can't. Just make the best of it. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that you shouldn't bother with college if you're not 120+ (2 SDs to right of mean)... of course, the colleges will happily take anyone's money for four years of football games and partying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IQ is an accurate test to estimate a latent construct dubbed the "G factor" or general intelligence. This construct has been shown to be very predictive of success in scientific, academic, management, engineering, legal, medical, and other intellectually demanding fields. G and IQ are age-adjusted and are temporally stable (don't vary much as a person ages.) An average IQ at a population level (100) indicates that the individual should not pursue college, and will be much more successful in the trades. The good news is, he will be much happier and wealthier than the 110 IQ kids (1 SD to the right of the mean) who try to be successful in dwindling white collar careers where AI and offshoring are already destroying whole industries. Don't fight genetics; you can't. Just make the best of it. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that you shouldn't bother with college if you're not 120+ (2 SDs to right of mean)... of course, the colleges will happily take anyone's money for four years of football games and partying.

There is so much misinformation in this post. + 1 SD is around the 84th percentile and an IQ of 115 (assuming a 15 SD). A 120 IQ is the 90th percentile. +2 SD is an IQ of 130, and is around 2.5% of the population/97.5th percentile. If only kids who are +2 SD are worthy of college, we'd end up with a massive shortage of educated professionals. There are tons of successful college graduates with IQs in the average range.

IQ is a collection of different domains. Many people with average IQs have a mix of above average, average, and below average subscores. A person with a 110 IQ, which is still in the 'average' range, likely is above average in some domain and much more average in the others. There are plenty of successful science and engineering professionals who are above average in fluid reasoning and pretty average in verbal domains. Likewise, there are plenty of successful lawyers, writers, etc. who are strong in verbal skills and pretty average in mathematical ones.

Any average kid who is motivated and plays to their individual strengths when choosing a field will be fine. If they also have high executive function and good people skills, they'll end up pretty successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and have attended many IEP meetings over the years. Most of these students have IQs in the lower to mid 70s so I’m happy with my son’s average IQ. My brother had a high IQ and zero common sense. He dropped out of college and defaulted on his student loan. It took forever for him to recover from it.

I doubt it. Those kids are usually not mainstreamed. Learning disabilities can be related to adhd, emotional, nonverbal disabilities, dyslexia and others. These kids have normal to high IQs

[Anonymous]

IME, average gets farther