Is IQ the be-all end-all?

[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.

If the colleges weren’t filled with students that have average 100 IQs then 50% of them or more would shut down.


This plus the fact that most students don’t even know their IQ or were lied to by their parents who told them they were genius IQ to give them confidence. Didn’t be stupid pp!

[Anonymous]

my kid has a genius IQ (168) and ASD/depression. He has had school refusal for years and can't even pass dumbed down virtual classes due to a lack of motivation and EF. May not be able to get a GED. I have no hopes he will ever hold a job.

[Anonymous]

Good lord so many of you are acting like it is better to have a low IQ. My kid has an IQ of 130 and has plenty of friends and works hard (although he doesn’t need to work hard on any math schoolwork yet, so that will be a transition in high school). Yes you can have a very high IQ and struggle. Just like you will struggle with a very low IQ. You can also have a high IQ and be happy and neurotypical.

[Anonymous]

I have two kids.

My oldest has a 136 WISC, so naturally smart. But he has absolutely NO drive, patience or anything. Quits as soon as something gets hard.

My second has not had an IQ test but while she is bright, she is clearly not as naturally smart as older brother. However, she loves to learn, has patience and drive etc.

I fully expect her to go further in life than her older brother.

[Anonymous]

I have a very high IQ, measured several times in my teens. Mom was a trophy-seeker.

It ceertainly doesn't hurt to have a high one but IMO ambition and work ethic matter more after some point, if you want accomplishment.

I think there's a sweet spot at the 95th percentile of so where a person with ambition and drive can really do well. DH is one, I think.

I am 99.9 percentile, little ambition. I did fine career-wise but am not a Nobel Laureate or anything notable in the STEM world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good lord so many of you are acting like it is better to have a low IQ. My kid has an IQ of 130 and has plenty of friends and works hard (although he doesn’t need to work hard on any math schoolwork yet, so that will be a transition in high school). Yes you can have a very high IQ and struggle. Just like you will struggle with a very low IQ. You can also have a high IQ and be happy and neurotypical.

IME, around a 120-135 IQ is the sweet spot. A person in this range is smart enough to do almost anything they want to do, yet normal enough that they will still have peers in school. I don't think anyone is saying that it's better to have a low IQ than a high one. The PP's notion that a person shouldn't attend college unless they have a 120+ IQ is absurd. My DD tested at a 115 IQ in 3rd grade. Now, in 11th grade, she has already earned 5s on the AP Chemistry, Calculus, English Literature, European History, and US Government exams. She also took the PSAT cold - without even looking at sample problems - last year and had a score almost high enough to be a NMSF. This year, she'll take another 6 AP exams. According to that PP, she's not college material, and a college education is wasted on her.

[Anonymous]

No. My autistic son has a high IQ, but a low EQ. That's a handicap in life.

[Anonymous]

Everything comes easily to my kid with the high IQ. The kid with the average IQ is struggling with elementary school basics. Like the PP said, I'm not sure college is the right financial choice for him, but I'm glad we know this early and can look at other possibilities. He does have very high EQ and executive functioning so we'll work with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Mainstreamed? They aren’t considered intellectually disabled with IQs from 70-75 so of course they are in general ed. I teach them every day. They require a ton of repetition to retain information like letter names, sounds, sight words, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Mainstreamed? They aren’t considered intellectually disabled with IQs from 70-75 so of course they are in general ed. I teach them every day. They require a ton of repetition to retain information like letter names, sounds, sight words, etc.

The time commitment required of teachers for this type of kid is why they shouldn't be in the general ed classroom. The normal kids lose out. It's not okay or moral to subsidize the education of some kids that don't belong in the first place by not teaching others for whom the standard curriculum is developed for.

[Anonymous]

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

Yes.

[Anonymous]

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

Mensa Education and Research Foundation has studied this. High IQ does not always correlate either with happiness or with high academic achievement.

Average IQ plus hard work often is a successful happy life.

[Anonymous]

I have a "normal" kid (mid 120s) and a "special" kid (153). The 120s kid has had it easier in every single way growing up (friends, academics, athletics). That 153 tilts everything just enough to be a mess. He's grown up now and is awesome - living his best life, got a graduate degree and has a wonderful fiancé. But wow - I have such a different understanding of the challenges of a high IQ unique way of thinking. I feel lucky he's as adjusted as he is - many struggle for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a "normal" kid (mid 120s) and a "special" kid (153). The 120s kid has had it easier in every single way growing up (friends, academics, athletics). That 153 tilts everything just enough to be a mess. He's grown up now and is awesome - living his best life, got a graduate degree and has a wonderful fiancé. But wow - I have such a different understanding of the challenges of a high IQ unique way of thinking. I feel lucky he's as adjusted as he is - many struggle for years.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a "normal" kid (mid 120s) and a "special" kid (153). The 120s kid has had it easier in every single way growing up (friends, academics, athletics). That 153 tilts everything just enough to be a mess. He's grown up now and is awesome - living his best life, got a graduate degree and has a wonderful fiancé. But wow - I have such a different understanding of the challenges of a high IQ unique way of thinking. I feel lucky he's as adjusted as he is - many struggle for years.

Since everybody seems to agree that many high IQ kids are not "normal," then we should also agree that they deserve at least as much support as every other kid, instead of everyone saying how we can just ignore them and don't need to teach them anything since they're so smart.