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I know you're not Dutch and I also know that you know you're not mentally retarded, otherwise you would have expected a tougher question. That's what I used to think, you see. However, it dawned on me today that gaining an insight into one's own intelligence is counterproductive. Let's do the math together. Assuming that you think it doesn't make any difference, that sitting the test is not going to make you either smarter or richer regardless of the result, you'd be better off sparing yourself the time and not sitting it. If we assume that you feel underrated, the result wouldn't make any difference either, for nobody would want to know it unless it were to your detriment. And finally, although you could quietly enjoy the proof of what you had always hoped for yourself, it would be your own modesty that would throw a spanner in the works. But there's something else. When I was young I had to suffer a test twice, and although the results were above-average, nobody bothered informing me. And so I have learned from personal experience what it feels like not to be highly gifted. What's more, I still don't know whether it would have made any difference in terms of personal happiness had I known that I could have called myself exactly that, give or take a little. |