ON THE NATURE OF NORMALCY Most of us now are so inured to the absurdities of an education system governed by mediocrity, for mediocrity and of mediocrity, that we no longer question the basic premises of it all. For instance, why should we sit in classrooms listening for years and decades, when reading books is a far better and more efficient system for acquiring information? For that matter why does a modern psychology textbook include so little information about literacy. What is so marvelous about memorizing books without necessarily being able to read them. Why, as a matter of fact, is education the science of not knowing who can read? Why are non-English speaking immigrants preferred over our own children in business, politics and education?
One should not need a degree in trigonometry to recognize that the most intelligent or literate 2% of the population is less successful than the 3% which is known as morons, idiots and imbeciles.
It seems rather likely to me now, that from the early years of the twentieth century until the present, attempts to reach a consensus for literacy standards have been stumbling headlong into a politically unacceptable fact. Successful people tend to score slightly below eleven-year-olds on objective tests. Therefore, the monkeys are still in charge of the zoo, so to speak. Politicians, school board trustees, corporation executives and super-salesmen, in general, are not bright or literate people. A mediocre level of vocabulary is an occupational prerequisite for these positions. The race is not to the swift. The medium is still the message. The secretaries to whom they dictate their letters tend to have higher objective scores.
For centuries and for obviously practical reasons, the female of our species has preferred a successful mate, inadvertently establishing the half-wit as the truly masculine man and creating problems for those who learn to read and write. From “Considering the Obvious, Seriously” – Montage, Sept 2005
Encourage Mensa to promote honest standards of literacy, have Mensa dues paid by the Government of Canada to compensate for the catastrophic effects of secret reading scores for the past century. Expect that Mensa should become the universal arbiter of literacy standards.From “Pilgrim’s Journal” MC2, August, Sept. 2003.
For a free color postcard of the bell-shaped curve send mailing address to George Noviss (http://www.gnoviss.com).


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