18
Opinions
March 2O22
Article by Abby Hernan Graphic by Jaidyn Holt
Hunter College Elementary School in New York is one of the most prestigious and selective elementary schools in the country, requiring every child admitted to have an IQ of 155 or above. The school was founded to train kids to become the country’s intellectual elite. However, when a study followed the school’s children into adulthood, they found that as adults, the child geniuses were not the exceptional overachievers they had predicted. They were happy with good jobs and graduate degrees, but none of them had won a Nobel Prize or become nationally recognized in their fields. The child geniuses were simply normal adults. The children at Hunter College Elementary School are just one example of high-IQ children being trapped by one label. Once a child receives the title “genius,” an expectation is created that they are expected to meet. They must do what the average student does but better and faster. However, this false expectation doesn’t motivate the child, it just breaks their confidence. On average, children receive their first IQ test at age 5. An IQ test consists of multiple components such as spatial recognition, shortterm memory, mathematical ability and analytical thinking. All these components are combined into one number normally between 85 and 110, with over 140 being considered genius. Many people are tested for IQ at a young age, especially if their parents think they will yield very high or very low results. When a child is given an IQ, their intelligence is permanently defined: a quantitative value for a qualitative trait. But it is important to remember that while a high IQ can lead to many benefits in life, it is not the only factor in determining success. “I think that [IQ tests] have very little actual weight in terms of when a child is capable of doing,” clinical therapist David Martin said. “It simply shows us where they
should fall based on the appropriate conditions of their education.” High IQ children have abilities that an overwhelming majority of the population don’t. A child that has all the countries memorized on a map or who can do high-level math problems with ease fascinates people who can’t even as adults. They are thrown onto news articles or daytime talk shows, all saying that they are geniuses and need to be praised for their talents. In 2015, a show named Child Genius discovered high IQ kids through Mensa, an organization of people with IQs in the 98th percentile, and placed them into a competition to see who was the smartest. Former Trinity Prep student Ashley Headrick was a contestant on the premiere and would make it with her team to the season finale. During filming, Headrick and her team would wake up at 4 a.m. to begin their competition. Headrick remembers the first episode of the show as one of the most stressful moments of her life. She and her team had to memorize a deck of cards and recite them faster than the other team. If they could not do it, they risked being eliminated. “The other team went first and got every single one of their cards right in record time,” Headrick said. “I was shaking and I was like I’m ready for this. But then, they took a commercial break. I had to stand there with my teammates, just shaking with nervousness. Everyone is drinking their water and having chips and I’m having a crisis. They started filming again, and I was like we got this. We ended up beating their time, and that’s how we moved forward. But that moment before was just the most stressed I think I’ve ever been and I was 11 years old.” For the six weeks of filming, Ashley and her team did not get a break from the show. Even when the cameras were off, the show was not over. Ashley and her team had to always be preparing.
