Are you smarter than a 5th grader? That series began its 6th season on television in May of 2015. Adults would cognitively spar with 5th graders to see who was smarter. A series of questions would be asked such as:
“How many nouns are in the following sentence?” “The rabbit ran to the cafeteria and ate a big salad.” “What unit of measurement is abbreviated for ”oz.?” Both adults and 5th graders would answer. Winners could win a maximum cash prize $1,000,000. According to Wikipedia, over the 98 episodes only 2 people have won the million dollar prize; Kathy Cox, a superintendent of public school for the state of Georga in the US and George Smoot, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics and professor at the University of California, Berkley.
Intelligence is God-given. While it is definitely possible to grow, learn and be prepared in terms of cognitive ability, it is God who has given the brain power, the full expansion of brilliance and the capacity at which one can think and achieve.
Marilyn vos Savant is an American known for having the highest recorded IQ according to the Guiness Book of World Records. She was born in St. Louis, MI on August 11, 1946. Over the years she was considered the “most intelligent person in the world”. At the age of 10 she is said to have scored a 228 IQ on a test. Savant currently is an author and has a column called “Ask Marilyn” where she answers questions. There is nothing Savant has done to get her brilliance. God has been the giver of her intelligence and others like her, an those with average IQ and so on.
The online community has a long list of smart people.One group of what is called “Super Scholars”. They are considered the smartest people alive. One phrase that caught my eye was they were considered “influential geniuses who have changed the world”. Among those listed are Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft. What I found in reading about him is that he and I are the same age yet we do not have the same intelligence. Allen is said to have scored 160-170 on an IQ test where I’m average in scoring. And, certainly his bank account is far more grand. Allen is valued at some 17.1 billion according to Yahoo News. He is known as a philanthropist in science, education and technology. He is also the owner of the Seattle Seahawks. It was his brilliance that brought him to a place of a computer builder and thus an award winning billionaire.
Another “Supter Scholar” is Chris Langan who has a reported IQ between 195-210 and has developed a cognitive theories model of the universe. The television program 20/20 guest, Robert Novelly said that Langan’s IQ is the highest ever measured. Can you imagine being known as the one with the highest understanding known?
For purposes known unto God, he has gifted each of us with a certain mentality and intelligence. It is by Him that we are able to think, act and do according to the where-with-all he’s given to each of us.
