IQ vs. Common Sense: The Eternal Struggle Between the Ivory Tower and the Kitchen Table
Let’s take a moment to appreciate one of life’s greatest ironies: the people who score highest on tests designed to prove how smart they are often struggle with things like not walking into traffic. Welcome to the Great Divide—Intelligence Quotient (IQ) vs. Common Sense. Or, in modern terms: Academics vs. Everyone Who’s Ever Used a Toolbox Without Googling It.
Intelligence Quotient (IQ): A Fancy Way to Say “I Do Well on Tests”
Definition: IQ is a number that says, “Congratulations! You memorized enough puzzles in a sterile testing center to be certified smart by people who write grant proposals for a living.” It measures things like logic, reasoning, and your ability to move shapes around in your head—which is super useful if you’re solving a Rubik’s Cube at your cousin’s wedding.
Measurement: IQ scores are standardized so that the average is 100. This means if you’re scoring 130, you’re a genius; if you’re scoring 70, you’re either a threat to yourself or about to be cast on a reality TV show.
Typical IQ Scores (because you asked):
- PhDs: 125 — which is impressive until you realize they still microwave fish in the office.
- College Grads: 112 — just high enough to get outraged by a tweet.
- Managers: 104 — the ideal IQ for moving your deadline without telling you.
- Skilled Workers: 100 — the people who fix the plumbing in the homes of everyone listed above.
Common Sense: The Opposite of a Tenured Position
Definition: Common sense is what your grandmother had before we replaced her with an iPad and a TED Talk. It’s the innate ability to not lick a frozen pole or trust anyone with a “diversity consultant” title.
Measurement: Can’t be measured. That’s how you know it’s real.
Examples:
- Wearing clean clothes to a job interview? Common sense.
- Not sticking your hand in boiling water? Common sense.
- Realizing that locking down an entire economy might have consequences? Elite blasphemy.
Key Differences: Or, Why the Voting Public Keeps Ignoring The Experts™
- IQ: Requires years of study, mountains of debt, and an emotional support latte.
- Common Sense: Requires being alive long enough to learn that hot stoves are not your friend.
- IQ: Quantifiable! Testable! Publishable!
- Common Sense: Embarrassing to the overeducated, because it keeps working without peer review.
- IQ: Will get you tenure.
- Common Sense: Will get your neighbor to help you move a couch.
Conclusion: One Gets You a Degree, the Other Gets You Through Life
In the battle of brains vs. gut, the real winner depends on whether you want to get published in The Journal of Pretentious Ramblings or avoid dying in a preventable household accident. IQ will help you understand string theory; common sense will help you not elect someone who thinks math is colonialism. Pick your champion accordingly.
And remember: the people with the highest IQs wrote the policies, but it’s the people with common sense who have to live with them.
Let me know if you’d like it even more biting or want to target a particular academic field next.