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I've heard the same. Many celebrities also claim to have IQs that are off the charts, although offer nothing to prove it. Many parents I know tell me their child has a genius level IQ.
Another example of how egoism and vanity affect this whole subject. I teach, and many times parents who are high achievers themselves tell me how incredibly bright their son is (say) when the little fellow can't find his feet with both hands in the dark. It is generally concluded by those who have reason to know that music lessons are good for children's developing brains, and it appears that it might be so. But maybe one out of 100 have any real musical ability, Suzuki aside.
[Shinichi Suzuki, in case you're wondering, was the founder of a violin teaching method, much like Montessori, the cornerstone of which is this notion of "Every Child Can." If for some bizarre reason you want to know more, Google it or pm me. I wrote an essay questioning it but it is ubiquitous, and you really can't teach (strings, piano, flute, guitar, recorder) without knowing at least something about it.]
Last edited by KaraZetterberg153; 06-22-2018 at 09:09 PM..
I used to teach and something I've noticed is that the brightest member of a not-very-bright family is often labeled a genius. I'm snerking here. Just like a splatch.
I think the above is supposed to be an example of genius humor. It is said that people with genius IQs are said to enjoy nonsense humor. Puts me in mind of the gifted mathematician, Lewis Carroll, who wrote "Alice in Wonderland."
I used to teach and something I've noticed is that the brightest member of a not-very-bright family is often labeled a genius. I'm snerking here. Just like a splatch.
I think the above is supposed to be an example of genius humor. It is said that people with genius IQs are said to enjoy nonsense humor. Puts me in mind of the gifted mathematician, Lewis Carroll, who wrote "Alice in Wonderland."
Mensa though was not interesting. The view was they were the "idiot savants" .The poor creatures who could do mental tricks but not survive otherwise. .
Ha; you just described me. It’s true ... I do survive but barely.
I have two savant abilities & while they have a “cool” factor; they are not the type of thing one puts in a portfolio or resume. I’m sort of a Novelty Human.
I’m more proud of the ordinary accomplishment of being a college grad. It was was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, because I had to learn how to learn.
Savant abilities are not “teachable” & usually there are no memories of having “learned” them. Setting a goal of graduating meant making a commitment to learning. Pathways for learning that most will form starting in Kindergarten; were literally non-existent in me. So; it was huge for me to do something ordinary.
I’m not sure, though; if I would “trade-in” my bizarre talents in exchange for success as determined by society. I’m not sure I’d recognize the world without them.
I don’t even know what the IQ requirement is for Mensa but I might question whether or not I’d belong to an intelligence-based community that would actually have me . Sort of a “there goes the neighborhood” type of thing.
Mensa is not what most people think it is. It is a social club made up of people with IQs in the top 2%. It does not attempt to solve world problems. It mostly is attending lectures, playing games and eating in what they call gatherings. It is a good place to Network. Yes there are those that have a need to prove that they are more intelligent than all others but they are the very small minority and avoided by most. You have people from all walks of life in Mensa. I know a cab driver and a FedX truck driver. Not everyone with a high IQ has the goal to make a lot of money like I did since I came from a very poor uneducated family living on government assistance. There were also many who are now leaders in their field of science, Doctors and Lawyers. It is a mixed bag of people just like you find in life outside of Mensa.
They also have Special Interest Groups (SIGS) which are online forums for Mensa members that cover things like Quantum Physics to sexual fetishes and everything in-between. You an volunteer to mentor young people but mostly it is just a social club. They also put out a good monthly magazine but their membership fees are too high in my opinion and since I no longer participate in their local, regional and national gatherings, I am no longer a member.
I never understood IQ until my forties despite being in classes for gifted children. They never talked about IQ, just the percentile we were in comparison to others in the country. Did not matter what it was since the score would not change how well I did my jobs. It was not until I was given an IQ test as part of a job requirement and then told that I scored the highest in the company worldwide, did I get interested in IQ and intelligence testing. I not only got that job but two others, all paying six figures, due to listing Mensa on my resume against the advice of what others said. I got a lot more than I paid for my annual membership fees from Mensa. For me it opened doors and gave me a leg up over others competing for the same job. It tells prospective employers that you are very intelligent and worth an interview.
So that is my experience with Mensa. It got me jobs paying more than my doctor makes. For me Mensa has been a very positive experience that provided me with an income in the top 5% without a college degree no less. It got me jobs and was fun to see that I made it since to this day at the age of 67, I could not tell you what my IQ is. Different test with different scales. All I know is that I am in the 99.9 percentile which I think is good. Join just so you can say you made it and then use it to get ahead. I rarely tell people about my IQ. My wife is the one with the big mouth, but people cannot help but notice after knowing me for a while.
To sum it up, Mensa is a social group and not a think tank. It tends to attract people who like to play games that require intelligence or just like to talk to others like them once in a while. Job wise it has been responsible for over a million dollars I made from jobs I got by listing Mensa on my resume, so suck eggs for all those that told me not to do it.
There is one more benefit. There are Sapiophiles out there. They are people who are sexually attracted to intelligent people. I have had sex with a model who thought I was very intelligent and interesting to talk to. She asked me to spend the night with her. I had sex on an airplane with a college coed who after answering some of her questions as to why metal planes can fly, bought me two drinks, handed me a Xanax and then put a blanket over our laps for privacy. There have been others, so that Mensa card can get you laid. Try that with an AARP card.
I attended a Mensa meeting, on the invitation of a member. I wouldn't recommend it, based on that experience. Years later, when there was a national Mensa convention in the town where I now live, that generated a big two-page feature article in the newspaper with several interviews of attendees, it became clear why I wasn't impressed in that meeting I attended.
OP, you could call Mensa "the low self-esteem club". It's made up of people who didn't fit in, in grade school or high school, who were always the odd man out and got bullied for it in many cases, or who had parents who put them down. So Mensa is a place where they can find comradeship and support. They pat each other on the back, and organize social events and hobby groups, where they can keep patting each other on the back. I found them to be insufferably gossipy, petty, and uninspired. This includes the men, who seemed oddly air-headed in spite of having a high level of education, as well as the women. It was depressing. It seemed like psychologically, they were held back by the circumstances of their early lives, and hadn't managed to rise above them to realize their full potential.
If you think about it, you realize that truly brilliant and creative people are out there in the world, doing their creative, innovative thing, whatever it might be. They don't need a cheering section, a team, to prop them up. They're too busy forging ahead to implement their unique vision.
That's my 2 cents.
This is exactly what I was going to say, but Ruth beat me to it!! My sister and my late husband were members a long time ago so I went to a lot of Mensa functions for 3 years or so. There were an above average number of misfits, along with some very nice normal people. I qualified based on SAT scores but never joined.
Well adjusted, intelligent people mostly do not need to join Mensa for social interactions - they get that in their daily life.
I have a hard time taking IQ scores seriously when the average score is about 145 among those I have met. That is quite hard to believe from a statistical viewpoint.
Have you seen their scores? Or that is what they say? Who is this group "those I have met"? Everyone you've ever met or Mensa folks?
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. Sort of a “there goes the neighborhood” type of thing.
