Gifted to save the world

Benoît Philie

Sunday, 21 January 2018 01:00

UPDATE
Sunday, 21 January 2018 01:00

Look at this article

Talented people from all over the world have been meeting since the 1940s thanks to the organization Mensa, the objective of which is to help humanity.

“Originally, the goal was to do a brainstorming to find smart solutions and peaceful to the problems that followed the Second world War and to prevent future conflicts,” explains the president of Mensa Québec, Huguette Lamontagne.

Photo courtesy

Huguette Lamontagne
Mensa Canada

“We can see that we have not really achieved our goals,” she adds.

The organization, founded in 1946, in England, has about 130 000 members from 100 countries. Groups Mensa exist in all continents, except Antarctica.

The only eligibility criterion is to obtain results superior to those of 98 % of the population intelligence test Mensa, it is possible to switch by contacting the organization.

Social Club

Over the years, the organization has mostly become a social club for people with intellectual ability higher to mingle among themselves and share common fields of interest.

“Mensa pulls now in all directions. It has groups of enthusiasts of scuba diving, to philatelists (stamp collectors, enthusiasts, songs, Persian, or for people of the LGBT community “, lists Ms. Lamontagne, who is part of Mensa for several years.

In the country, there are between other groupings, Mensa Canada, Mensa Québec and Mensa Montreal. Dinners, dinners, trips to the museum… dozens of activities are organised at different levels every month.

Once you become a member, a “Mensan” and can join any group in the world.

“We are : teacher, truck driver, scientist, firefighter, computer scientist, farmer, actor, musician, entrepreneur, photographer, military, police, tourist guide… Some of us are millionaires, others are working at the minimum wage,” one can read on the website of Mensa Quebec.

There were about 2000 members in Canada in 2009.

Rare figures

Statistics are very few in the areas of giftedness. It is necessary to refer to foreign researchers to get an overview of the situation, and, again, the different experts do not always agree.

60% to 75%

Proportion of gifted children who have a cognitive development harmonious, not linked to other problems such as attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

25% to 50%

Proportion of gifted students who receive an incorrect diagnosis of ADHD in their lives (Webb et al., 2016).

8% to 10%

Proportion of talented people who take comments about suicide seriously before the age of 12 years.

More suicides

The research of psychologist Martin Voráček (2004) show a suicide rate 4 times higher among individuals extremely gifted in the general population.