There are about a half dozen articles in the news today, mostly in British newspapers that a three-year old girl (living in England) "joins Mensa," after taking an IQ test in Russian. The news angle is that the three year-old girl is reportedly the youngest member of Mensa (at least in England's newspapers), according to the February 13 news article, "Three-year-old Brit girl joins Mensa with IQ 'higher than Stephen Hawking'."
There are too many references to "evil geniuses" in the media and not enough mention of female geniuses of compassion and achievement when citing examples of famous people of high intelligence, such as the first female physician in the USA or the first female physicist in Europe. Emphasis is on performance for entertainment rather than on character or charisma in achievements of females. See, "IQ of 200 but can't get a job."
News reports usually mention the I.Q.s of presidents, but rarely the I.Q. of Marie Curie, physicist or the first woman physician in the U.S.A. Recent studies show women now are scoring higher in I.Q. tests than men. But why, ask many people? See, Yes, women have higher IQ than men.
The news is that the preschooler, Alice Amos has such an incredible brain she is in the top 0.03 per cent of the population. She even teaches her younger sister, Katie, aged 18 months, some of what she learned or read in her favorite books. In the past year, Alice began to count to 100 and was reading Aesop's Fables and levels four and six of the Oxford Reading Tree. But Alice is not the only three-year old in Mensa.
Consider that in most children's books and films, the child genius usually is a boy rather than a girl featured as highly intelligent when it comes to learning math and reading skills at a very young age. Check out the animated movie, "Boy Genius," attracting children, since boys may not want to see a movie named "Girl Genius," because of the teasing angle of 'sissie' or 'tomboy' pinned on achievements in math, science, or words linked to females. Boys may even refuse to eat vegetables they think are "too girlish."
That results in smart girls having to work twice as hard to be 'liked' by average students when high-achieving in the sciences, math, or reading at very young ages. Although some of the news reports state that "her high IQ puts her above the likes of Abraham Lincoln (128), Napoleon Bonaparte (145) and Sigmund Freud (156)," how would anyone know for sure what these scores really were when the men didn't take I.Q. tests and announce them publicly? A three-year-old boy named Sherwyn Sarabi from South Yorkshire, England joined Mensa last month.
As far as Alice Amos's interests, at three, she prefers educational shows, and was taken out of nursery because she considered the other kids 'babies,' according to the news. Alice Amos has been given full membership of the society after scoring a massive 162 on an IQ test, reports a February 13, 2012 article in a British newspaper, The Mirror. Alice Amos had finished reading an entire children's book aimed at five-year olds when she was two years and nine months old.
One of the news articles says that "her score was achieved despite English being her second language." Another news article, "Three-year-old girl joins Mensa after taking IQ test in Russian," reports that she took the test in Russian. Her parents Vitaly and Tatiana, both 36, only speak their native Russian at home in Guildford, Surrey, England.
According to news reports, Vitaly explained that Alice started talking at age 2½. Some children begin speaking at only 18 months of age and then turn out to have average I.,Q. scores. So it depends upon how much you read to your child, speak to your child, or use verbal stimulation most of the day to communicate. And for no special reason, some children speak at later ages than others. She took off with language development from that point forward, according to the article, "Girl aged three has been admitted to Mensa with an IQ of 162 which is higher that of Steven Hawking."
Another news article noted that "Einstein and Professor Hawking scored 160 in Mensa's test." But these men never made their I.Q. test scores public. In fact Stephen Hawking, has never officially revealed his IQ test scores, according to the news article, "Three-year-old Brit girl joins Mensa with IQ 'higher than Stephen Hawking'." Her dad is a telecommunications sales manager, one news report comments.
When it comes to I.Q. tests, what one had at three can change at 17. On the other hand, a girl with 160 I.Q. score has the capacity to do almost whatever she wants in life, except be a sperm donor any more than a boy could be a wet nurse or egg donor (with the exception of a hermaphrodite). Another news article reported that Einstein and Professor Hawking scored 160 in Mensa’s test. The UK average I.Q. score in most school-administered tests is 100. The average I.Q. score in the U.S.A. generally is said to be about 100. Ironically, a study looks at the I.Q.s of people who watch different news shows on TV. See, "'Study' Claims Fox News Viewers Have Average IQ of 80 - PJ Media."
Since there are seven or more types of intelligences, the I.Q. tests may not mean much when it comes to persistence and how people choose the jobs they enjoy most or the subjects studied that are most intensely favored. For example, I joined Mensa in 1978, and the I.Q. scores required to join aren't so high that you need to be in the genius level in math and physics such as the names Hawkings and Einstein which usually are mentioned frequently in news coverage.
Mensa, Wonderlic, and other interpretations of I.Q. scores
One of the biggest problems in the job market is when in the recent past, clerical workers were given I.Q. tests and hired on how high they score on tests such as the Wonderlic test instead of how they score on honesty, loyalty, and attention to detail. In one personnel agency sending temporary typists on jobs by the day or week, if a person didn't score a 22 or higher on the Wonderlic test, they weren't sent out for a temporary clerical job which most of the time entailed basic typing, filing, or answering the phone and sometimes registering people at conventions (back in the late 1980s).
See, Wonderlic Test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which gives the average score for various clerical occupations, such as 22 for bank teller and 21 for cashier and other clerical jobs. The Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test (formerly known as the Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT)) is a popular group intelligence test still used currently to assess the aptitude of prospective employees for learning and problem-solving in a range of occupations.
Too often it had been used in the 1980s to screen out stay-at-home moms who suddenly became single and/or eager to find entry-level clerical jobs to pay their rent when they sought their first temporary clerical job after a number of years at home. The test is even given to some prospective professional football athletes. See, 2012 NFL Draft: The 5 Best, 5 Worst Wonderlic Scores in NFL.
Children and Sacramento Mensa
The U.S.A. and other nations have their share of Mensa members who are children of varying ages. See, Mensa For Kids. In England, about 1,000 members of Mensa are aged under 18. Locally, check out the site, Sacramento Mensa Handbook. In fact, here in Sacramento, Mensa meets at various locations, including some lunch meetings at different restaurants. For further information, see the Sacramento Mensa Calendar. Some activities are for kids. And other events are for adults.
There also are various activities are for families. Some tests include the SAT or various standard I.Q. tests are used as entrance tests for Mensa, which also has its own testing program. If you think you may be at the 98th percentile or above when it comes to the standard type of I.Q. measurements and want to take the test for Mensa, check out the site, Sacramento Mensa Join.
You need around 134 I.Q. for Mensa, depending upon the test you take and its credibility, not anywhere near the 160 levels that you find in top of the line physicists and mathematicians. The average math teacher has an I.Q. of 135, and often less. In any I.Q. test, your verbal score and math score are measured as well as your spatial and nonverbal scores.
There's also tests that I.Q. scores don't measure such as art or musical ability, mechanical aptitude and talent, or the ability to work with fine details and manual dexterity. And the average biologist with a doctorate has an average I.Q. of 116, similar to the average college student.
See, "A Short (and Bloody) History of the High I.Q. Societies." If you're interested in various I.Q. tests, see the site, Uncommonly Difficult IQ Tests. Whether you have a high I.Q. or not, the best way to apply it is in doing what works best for you and what really makes a difference in the world to make living for people and the environment healthier, happier, kinder, and gentler.
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