The words of the indomitable Genius selected in Childhood

Henry Cowell grew up living in poverty and chaos. He had to drop out of school at the age of seven. As a child, he worked as a sweeper at a school near Stanford University. But the obvious exception from all the other kids was Cowell. He was often seen rushing to school to play the piano. As a child, he could play wonderful tunes on the piano.

Lewis Terman, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, specializes in measuring human intelligence. One of the most popular models for the IQ test, ‘Stanford Bennett’, is his creation. Coincidentally, he met Henry Cowell. Terman wanted to measure Cowell’s intelligence. He thought the boy must be very talented; Even under the curse of poverty, his talent seemed to be coming out.

After measuring the IQ, it was found that Henry Cowell was indeed one of the extraordinary talents. Above his IQ 140, genius level. Terman was overwhelmed. Who knows how many more such gems are hidden inside the pile of ashes. He decided they could not be lost. Others need to find out too. Thus began the search for Louis Terman’s talent.

He found a girl who had acquired literacy at the age of only nineteen months. Dickens, another Shakespeare, died at the age of four. The story of another young man is even more bizarre. He has been expelled from law school. Because his professor could not believe that it was possible for a human being to write such a huge composition from memory, these God-given extraordinary talents were constantly adding to the wonder of Terman.

In 1921, Terman planned to carry out this research on a large scale. He also received large grants from the Commonwealth. He sent a group of workers to elementary schools in California. Teachers were asked to select their most talented students. Then their intellectual test was taken. The first ten percent of the boys and girls were selected from there. They were re-verified in the second step—those who score above 130 face the third stage test.

In the process, Terman verified about two and a half million students. And he chose only fourteen or seventy of them. All of them had IQs between 140 and 2000. Needless to say, Terman chose the most brilliant and brilliant brains. They became known as termites and became the subject of the world’s most famous psychological test.

The next whole life Lewis Terman observed them closely. They have calculated and analyzed most of life work, including their marriage, illness, and mental condition and served sincerely. Got regular advice and counsel. Recommended for their jobs or for graduate school. Listed their extraordinary achievements. And this information has been recorded in a huge volume of Genetic Study of the Genius.

Terman believed that there was nothing more important to a person than his IQ. And the termites all had high IQ. Growing up, all the possibilities of a bright future were observed. Termites were on the list of winners in any competition California children participated in. Lewis Terman took some of Termite’s writings to literary critics. Critics did not find any difference between the quality of the writings of the famous writers and their early writings.

So naturally, everyone was very optimistic about them. Everyone believed that these would be the future elite of the United States. Future leadership will come from among the Termites. Those who will lead the country towards science, technology, education and social development. No one doubted their successful future.

Lewis Terman’s idea of ​​success still exists in our society. The idea is that the most important thing for success is one’s talent. That is why we have a special bias towards indomitable talents. Special projects are kept for meritorious people in schools and colleges. IQ is also tested in many elite university admission tests.

Even well-known companies like Google and Microsoft test their intelligence before hiring. There are a lot of questions to check the smartness of the candidates. This includes the famous question, ‘Why is the manhole cover round?’ (Can you tell me the answer? Sorry if not, you are not smart enough to work at Microsoft!).

These things happen because we think talent or God-given talent is the key to success. People with a high IQ are more likely to succeed in any job. But is that really the case? To answer this question, we have to go back to the termites. Were those children with high IQ successful?

By the time Terman reached old age, his termites had also reached a stable stage in their lives. Terman realized that there was something wrong with him. None of his termites became as famous as he had hoped. Some of them have been writers doing research. There have been some government officials and there have been two judges. But very few were able to gain national recognition. They used to earn good money – but not so much.

And for the most part, they had an average career. The most surprising thing is that the career of a few was declared a failure by Terman himself. None of them were Nobel laureates. However, his staff verified two Nobel laureates, William Shockley and Lewis Alvarez. But they could not pass the selection. Because their IQ was not enough.

Now the question arises, what was wrong with Terman? But does IQ play a role in success? Malcolm Gladwell well explains the answer in his book Outlaws. According to him, IQ is important for one’s success. But there is a threshold point at which the role of IQ is negligible.

Think of playing basketball. Can anyone be a good basketball player with a height of five and a half feet? It is impossible. This requires a minimum height of six feet one / two inches. That means the height is an important regulator for doing well in basketball, but that doesn’t mean a player of six feet eight inches will do better than one of six-foot six inches for height. Then his other skills will make the difference.

The same is true of IQ. It is true that in order to do well in a job, your intelligence must be above a certain limit. Maybe over 120. But that doesn’t mean that the more talented you are, the more successful you will be. Then success will depend on other things. Your perseverance, practice, taking advantage of opportunities – all these will make a difference.

To give an example, Albert Einstein’s IQ was about 160. To date, many have been found to have higher IQ than that. Such as Chris Langan’s IQ 195. Yes, Chris Langan is more intelligent than Einstein. But does that mean he’s got more than Einstein?

This applies to many more cases. For example, many people get frustrated by not getting the opportunity in any desired university in our society. Maybe many think I’m not as talented as them; Not with me. But the fact is that if your talent is more than a certain level, then your other skills are more important than the talent. We need to realize this. As Lewis Terman realized, there is no direct link between success and merit.