What really is intellect?

 Snapp Secret... I always score high on intelligence quotient tests, and I feel they are a terrible test of intelligence. 

For those of you who have never done an IQ test let me tell you a bit about them. They are tests to determine if you can solve a missing piece of a pattern and determine a correct word. Which is a wonderful test if you want to know if a child will fall in line and do data well. 

But I argue, intelligence is the ability to create something new. Unfortunately this isn't something any formed test can truly verify you have the ability to do. No, the real test is how time remembers you. Will you be remembered as the person who cured cancer? Will you be remembered as the person who saved the aquifers? Those people are the true genius' of our time. 

I have taught gifted children, as judged by iq tests, and there is a quality many of them possess. An inability to move on from failure. When they receive their first F they give up on a class. When they are told their violin performance lacks they quit violin. But true genius' they create new ways to succeed. They work around their shortcomings and invent new ways to overcome their lack of aptitude. 

When I first found out I did well on IQ tests I dreamed of having high IQ children that would succeed as doctors and such. But now at 37 I realize I didn't see the full scope of what I should want for my children. I want them to create. I want them to make something new. To invent. To dream. To navigate around shortcomings not just of themselves but of the world. 

So yes dear reader, I am smart according to the standards of 2025. But according to my own standards I am a buffoon. But I will work hard to overcome this so that my children can one day create something new.

Lindsay Snapp