Officially, Mensa is the “High IQ Society”, but someone on Twitter (I’m not going to identify that someone, since the person is extremely smart and pretty cool, too) had a legitimate gripe about the organization this afternoon: high test scores don’t always correlate with high intelligence. People can study for tests to improve their scores, but that doesn’t make them smarter.
The person also brought forth the issue of different tests that can qualify a person for Mensa membership. In general, they tend to focus on verbal, math and logic skills. I sent in my LSAT score with my application and was welcomed with open arms. However, it’s a test score, not an actual measure of IQ (or EQ or any other standard that measures actual smartness).
That said, the person made some rather harsh generalizations that… well, I’ve met some people who would fit the qualification of “douchebag”. Some people tout their membership in Mensa (or worse, the 99.9% Club) as an identifying aspect of their character. What’s worse, they think that makes them superior to others who can’t get the scores needed to join. Said others may have been blessed with way more smartness than some members, but without good test-taking skills, they’re stuck on the outside looking in.
I like to think I’m not one of those people. I’m a member of Mensa and I know I’m not that smart. I don’t wear my membership like a badge on my sleeve and I never bring it up in conversation. If someone else says something, I’ll talk about it. If not, I keep that info to myself, thank you very much. I think the problem is that I don’t see myself as being special (or “douchebag-y”) in that way, but because of Mensa’s reputation (justified or not), other people make judgments accordingly.
Oh, and another tweet pointed out that some people are so proud of their membership, they’ll reveal that as soon as they meet someone: “Hi, I’m Dave and I’m a member of Mensa.” Almost makes it sound like a support group, doesn’t it? “I’m addicted to my Mensa membership. I try not to go to events anymore, but I can’t stop playing poker with other smart people!!!”
As for myself, I haven’t sunk to such depths. It’s been documented on national TV. When Brian McFayden asked me to give my best pickup line, I said, “Hi, my name’s Shawn, what’s yours?” Nothing about Mensa in there. I think that sounds like a good way to introduce myself to someone who’s not very good at taking tests, don’t you?
