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How accurate are those online IQ tests, I wonder? I know I had my IQ tested as a kid, but I don't recall ever knowing what the results were. I took the online test a couple of years ago and scored a 137. I took that same test today and scored a 126. Did my IQ really drop 11 points?
Okay, I'm not really complaining. A 126 is nothing to sneeze at. It's considered above average. But my old score of 137 fell under the "gifted" category. According to IQ.com, only 2.3% of test takers fall into that category.
So am I getting stupider? If you ask my teenagers, they will probably tell you that I am indeed. And some days I really feel that way. Both kids are taking Algebra One this year and I am completely useless to them. I used to be so good at math. Algebra was one of my best subjects! But now I know nothing. Graph inequalities? What's an inequality? Rational numbers and irrational ones? They all seem irrational to me! The truth is, I really was an excellent math student but I haven't used this stuff in so long. I'm not saying that my kids don't need Algebra. They may. Right now my daughter is talking about becoming a doctor. For sure, she will need her math. My son? Probably won't be an engineer or anything else that requires more than simple addition. And then, it better not be anything more than what he can count using fingers and toes. It's possible that he'll never use this stuff once he puts it down at the end of this school year. I, for one, am looking forward to the end of Algebra One.
I do realize now, though, that most of my learning has come after high school and since college. Most of what I know now and fully understand has come from life's lessons. Not just things like, "treat others the way you want to be treated," but all the stuff I had a hard time grasping during my years of formal education. Things like geography and history. All the travel I've been able to do since I left school has really helped me figure out where on the globe some of these places are. Before moving to Singapore, I didn't know where it was in south east Asia. Until we spent time in Tokyo, I couldn't have told you the difference between Japanese people and Chinese people. In high school, I took two years of Spanish. I've since learned about 150 words in Japanese and two phrases in Chinese. No, that's not a lot, but I can also tell the difference between when someone is speaking Chinese and when someone is speaking Japanese. That's not really something you learn out of a textbook.
I've been to Moscow, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. I'll probably also go to Vietnam, South Korea and possibly New Zealand or Australia in the near future. One of my best friends is living in Turkey. I'd love to go visit her. We've been talking about a trip to Israel this November. Nothing beats learning geography through travel. Nothing!
When I was in middle school, I loved to read. Mostly I read teenage stories about babysitting and boys and those types of things. During high school and college I was too busy with school and work to read. But now that I'm a pampered expat housewife, I get more time to read and I've broadened my horizons a bit. One of my favorite books that I would never have read had I not moved to Tokyo is Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a great story with such a wonderful explanation of old Japan. It really helped me understand more of that country's history. When I knew I'd be going to Amsterdam on a 12-hour layover, I read The Diary of Anne Frank. It's strange to me that we didn't read that in high school. Or maybe we did and it meant nothing to me. I really don't remember any of it from my teenage years though, so I don't think I read it in school. I never understood so much about the war or about how the Jews felt during the Holocaust. Reading Anne's story helped me put it all in order in my head. And then visiting Amsterdam and walking through the building and rooms where the Frank family was holed up during this time ... wow! All I can say is wow! It was such a surreal experience to walk the floors where she walked and see the tiny rooms they were forced to live in. Looking out the windows where she peeked to see the people outside ... all of it was just completely unbelievable. I've never experienced history quite like that. I'm currently reading Mein Kampf. Yes, Hitler's story. It's a very disturbing account of what happened in Nazi Germany. I don't remember learning much about World War II in high school. I know we studied it, but I don't remember any of what I was taught. This book has really given me a great insight into the mind of an incredibly brilliant, yet evil man. Evil and genius. Those are two great words to describe Adolph Hitler. Some of his plans and ideas were remarkably great. But then he's got these insane beliefs that make me wonder how someone so incredibly brilliant can be so insanely stupid! A friend of mine who also read the book offered this review, which I have to agree with wholeheartedly:
What is most striking about Hitler is that I've yet to feel "his" struggle. He seems more bent on revenge than some admirable cause, much like Edmund Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo. V in V for Vendetta shared much in common with him as well. They all justified violence as a means for liberation or empowerment. He seems to genuinely care for the German people but his hatred of Jews overshadows his ability to reason or act rationally. His "movement" may have genuine nationalistic ingredients but I can't help but feel it's all too personal in nature. When you see how he treated the SA in later years you'll realize people were recruited to his cause as just the means to his ends.
Travel ... reading ... having conversations with friends about my travel and about the books I'm reading ... these are things that have really broadened my horizons and helped me learn far beyond what any book or classroom could have taught me. So I may not be able to graph an inequality, but I can find Myanmar on a map and I know why Chinese men grow their pinky nail so insanely long.
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