Not long ago, my child's psychology teacher gave an IQ test to several students in the class. I was a little shocked by the results -
- The IQ of my second child is as high as more than 140;
- The boss's IQ is only more than 120.
The problem is that for a long time, my feelings for these two babies have always been the opposite. I've always believed that the eldest is far smarter than the second.
Not to mention anything else, the boss with a "slightly lower IQ index" has been a member of the school math competition team since he was a child, and he can easily master other subjects. When he was in elementary school, he was able to put a computer, a printer, and ...... Tear it down and reinstall it after it is broken.
On the contrary, he is the second child with a "super high IQ", who has been slow to learn things, and his mantra is "I can't learn". So far, the school is still a regular math class, and there is no sign of so-called "genius" at all.
However, shouldn't people with high IQs be super easy to do anything? Why is there still a "math difficulty" like my daughter?
I couldn't figure it out until I read the book "Becoming a Dark Horse: The Best Ways to Succeed in the Age of Personalization" by two professors at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.
1. IQ index, a one-sided "scam"
In "The Dark Horse," two Harvard professors question the long-held "IQ index" in education. They argue that the IQ index is a product of a standardized society and should not be used as a yardstick to measure the ability of talents.
Compare this to the most common IQ test for children on the market today, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Preschool and Elementary Schools, Fourth Edition (abbreviated as WPPSI-IV). In one test, two boys from Massachusetts demonstrated abilities in the test project, as shown in the following diagram -
So, the question is, if you just look at the chart, can you judge: which boy is smarter?
Scientists refer to zigzag patterns like Figure 1 as "zigzag patterns."
Let's take a look at the jagged pattern diagram of two boys' IQ –
Boy A performed much better than another boy in the 4 dimensions of intelligence (block design, symbol search, similarity comparison, and puzzle ability);
But the other boy, B, performed better in the other three dimensions (picture concept, picture cancellation, and picture memory).
So, you might think that the IQ scores of these two boys should be very close.
But you are wrong.
After a series of complex calculations, Boy A's IQ score is 117, and its corresponding percentile is 85%, that is, only 15% of people have a higher IQ than him;
Another boy, B, has an IQ of 98, corresponding to a percentile of 45%, that is, 55% of people have a higher IQ than him.
So, according to standardized thinking, Boy A is smart, and the other Boy B is below average and a bit dumb.
With this explanation, do you understand a little?
Today's standardized IQ test actually has a major flaw - it tries to use the simplest value to score people with different talents, and use it to judge people's overall ability.
It's like comparing Xiao Ming, who can build cars, and Xiao Qiang, who can program, and then concludes that Xiao Qiang is smarter than Xiao Ming, and Xiao Qiang is the real talent...... The problem is that if you ask Xiao Qiang, who can program, to build a car, he will probably not be able to build a single wheel.
Screenshot from the movie "Pantheon".
2. Why is the "standardized IQ test" popular?
If standardized IQ tests do not objectively and impartially reflect a person's true abilities, why has it been popular for so many years?
The Harvard professor pointed out that that's because—
The most important opportunity system around us, the education system, is actually imposing a "talent quota system".
In higher education, only a very small number of students are able to get into elite universities –
Princeton University enrolls about 1,300 students each year, as does Yale University.
MIT and Columbia University admit about 1,400 students each year.
Harvard and Brown enroll about 1,600 students a year, while Stanford enrolls just over 2,000......
The population of the United States, although small, is 330 million, not to mention so many other countries in the world.
In short, high-quality educational resources are always scarce. Especially at the beginning of the 20th century, with the rapid increase in the number of applicants, universities imposed strict restrictions on their enrollment due to infrastructure constraints.
This quota will not be adjusted in any way according to the quality of the candidates, and it does not matter how many candidates are talented.
Screenshot from the movie "Pantheon".
It is frustrating that, in addition to university admissions, quality resources are also scarce in other parts of the education system. For example: top kindergartens, key primary schools, famous middle schools, gifted student training programs......
So, it's not true that "talent is rare" — for example, the number of students who qualify for Harvard each year far exceeds the actual number of students admitted to Harvard — the fact is that the limitations of the standardized system have led to the rarity of talent.
However, no school will tell you that my admission is a fool's errand, and the lottery is more reliable than my judgment...... They want to "maintain quotas" and show their "fairness and science". So, what should be done?
Make up a "plausible" reason – the "IQ index" is one of those plausible reasons. Not many people can really understand it anyway.
Screenshot from the movie "Pantheon".
3. Why does the "IQ Index" feel so reliable?
If the "IQ Index" is biased, why does it seem so reliable?
After all, it is true that there is a large body of research that has found that many elites are highly intelligent. The IQ data of students in elite schools is usually higher than that of the general population.
This is because—
First of all, the "IQ index", despite its bias, is able to reflect a person's overall cognitive ability "to a certain extent".
For example, a person with an IQ of 80 must have a "long board" cognitively compared to a person with an IQ of 150, but he may have more "short boards".
Second, the content of standardized tests designed by the existing education system is inherently prone to high scores for "high-IQ people."
To give you just two examples: a car mechanic who takes the college entrance examination can get a mess, and even a business wizard like Jack Ma only scores 20 points in math on the college entrance examination.
Third, for many years, high-quality educational resources and social opportunities have been skewed towards the "high IQ" population.
Therefore, over time, the advantages accumulated by the "high IQ index" group will gradually increase, and eventually become an insurmountable chasm.
Finally, and the most terrifying point
When you pass an IQ test or various types of standardized tests and judge yourself as "not smart enough," you may find excuses for all your failures, and you may also give up all the effort you should have put in.
Screenshot from the movie "Pantheon".
Fourth, what determines your achievement,
It's the "longboard" in your intellectual dimension
So, after understanding the mystery of IQ, what inspiration can we get as parents?
First of all, it doesn't matter if I give birth to a child who doesn't score that much on IQ tests, or doesn't score that well on tests.
Because the "zigzag pattern of intelligence" reflects that a person's qualities are made up of numerical values in multiple dimensions, but the correlation between these dimensions is very low -
Just because you have a large vocabulary doesn't mean you're good at writing;
Just because you're good at trigonometry doesn't mean you're good at calculus;
Just because you're good at remembering people's names doesn't mean you're good at remembering musical melodies......
And a person's lifelong achievement is determined by the "longest board" of the intellectual dimension.
To give a simple example - when it comes to the "most extreme" of human achievement, the Nobel Prize. Most people would think that to win the Nobel Prize, the IQ must be at the level of "high mountains", such as 190?
Studies have found that among the Nobel laureates, there are also many scientists with an IQ of only 120.
And to achieve the vast majority of achievements in human life, you don't need to be as smart as a scientist at all...... Above the average, it is enough.
Screenshot from the movie "Pantheon".
5. "Dark Horse Mentality" and "Excellence Realm"
If most people have a "long board" in their intellectual dimension, it is worth tapping. So what is the secret of their success for those who have "average IQ"/"do not meet the traditional standards of excellence" (the so-called dark horse characters)?
The answer is: mentality.
Harvard professors summarized the four mindsets known as the "dark horse mentality," which include knowing yourself, making positive choices, ignoring long-term goals, and working hard to achieve short-term goals.
The so-called choice is to choose the field that suits you on the basis of fully understanding your strengths and weaknesses - for example, don't fight hard for the Olympiad if you work hard to learn mathematics.
And "ignoring the long-term goal and striving to achieve the short-term goal" can be illustrated by a diagram called "The State of Excellence" (this is not just a thought experiment, but a case that mathematicians call the "global optimization problem").
Imagine the view of the mountain peaks and valleys stretching as far as our eyes can see. Your mission is to climb to the top. But you don't have a map, and you can only see the slopes near you...... So, how do you find a climbing route that promises success?
Mathematicians have a term to describe the strategy used by dark horse figures to achieve excellence: gradient ascent.
First, look around and determine which slope is the steepest. You climb in the direction of the steepest slope for a while, then stop, look around, and see if there is a more favorable direction to climb and if you can find a steeper slope.
By repeating this process again and again, you will climb higher and higher until you finally reach the top.
While this may not be the fastest route, it will reliably take you to the top of the pack eventually.
The "Peak of Excellence" shows us why a dark horse mindset is more likely to lead you to success than a standardized formula that emphasizes "know the goal, work hard, and stay the course."
Because everyone's life has its own unique terrain. The valleys and peaks you can see are completely different from others. This means that there is no one-size-fits-all path to excellence.
The ascending gradient illustrates the difference between short-term goals and long-term life goals. When you choose to go in one direction, you are setting yourself a short-term goal. You don't just go to the top of the mountain...... Because unless you're already close to the summit, you don't know where it is or what the best route to get to the summit is.
But if you rely on situational decision-making, i.e., the flexibility to change goals when pursuing short-term goals while encountering a better strategy of action or an opportunity to choose, you will climb higher and higher.
At the same time, you'll get satisfaction rather than frustration as you climb as you keep achieving "small goals". You must know that "satisfaction" is the greatest source of human self-motivation.
And educating children, the same is true.