contemplativeThe whole thing reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend in Chicago years ago. We had stumbled over the topic of kids somehow and she made a comment that the one thing she couldn't tolerate in any potential kids she had is if they were stupid. I remember thinking that was sort of odd at first since you don't usually hear that as one of the hopes listed for potential offspring. Usually you see people mumble platitudes about how they just hope the kid is born healthy and happy and all that crap. Think about it for a moment though and it does make sense. What would you really do if your kid was born a retard? (read: average)
We often, well, okay correction there, I often don't think about what average really means in this country. It's a pretty scary place to be. The average score on the SATs in this country is a little over 500 for verbal a tidge more for math. That's only _AFTER_ they recalibrated the scores around a decade ago to add around a hundred points to everyone's score. I scored, what I thought was a relatively modest 1330 at the time, and I didn't know anyone who got lower than 1000. That means that I didn't even know any people of average intelligence as measured by the test and I knew a lot of stupid people.
I asked Connie recently what she would do if Madelaine turned out to be stupid. Her response was flat out that she wouldn't be. She then mentioned all the study groups and programs and assorted gobbilygook that she would enroll her in if she weren't doing well. As if it would really be possible to train the stupid out of someone. Oh well. At least Madelaine will have genetics on her side. Still doesn't mean she won't possibly buck the trend.
