IQ is only good to a point

IQ is only valuable to a point.

Outliers is a book of examples to explain the theory of becoming successful. All these examples and stories are of people who are successful, so it's difficult to relate a section of this book with an experiential moment in my life. However, the closest I could find so far is, "The Trouble With Geniuses."

Back in chapters 3 and 4, Malcolm Gladwell speaks about a man named, Lewis Terman. Lewis was a professor of psychology at Stanford University and has tracked about 1,450 kids from California with high IQ's. When he tested his students with kids chosen at random he saw indistinguishable results between the two groups of students. He also rejected 2 students from his group of geniuses' because their IQ's were too low, however both those rejected students went to become Nobel Laureates. In the end, only one thing mattered, family background. Almost none of his 'geniuses' from the lowest socio-economic class became famous. Ultimately learning that IQ does play a role in success in life, but only to a point. Beyond that, what makes the difference is the family and community environment, and hard work.

In my life, I was recently accepted into the National honor society by a hairline. Although I had the required GPA to be recommended, what I lacked was community service, leadership and work. Although I had some experience with each category I didn't have enough. How you are raised ties into what kind of person you will be in the future and I was luckily raised in well-manner. Because I had time before I had to send in the paperwork, I went out and fulfilled leadership roles, community services, and more work. Again, I had the require GPA, but not enough of the other requirements. After I went out and accomplished the other categories, I was accepted into NHS and got that more successful than I was before.

My experiential event ties into my reading about Lewis Terman because both Lewish and the NHS knew that an individuals IQ is only a portion of what makes a person successful, and can only go so far. What makes the difference is family, community environment and hard work which I had to accomplish in order to be accepted.