So really, I'm asking once an IQ reaches a certain level, for example >130, then are all kids capable of achieving the same great results given the same opportunities or would their mental IQ limit their learning ability?
I agree with others that you're putting too much emphasis on IQ. Use the height analogy: you pretty much have to be tall to play pro basketball. Let's say the top 1-2% is a good starting point (6' 2"-ish for men; 5' 10-ish for women). Is 2% of the US population ---
6.2 million people --- good enough to play pro basketball? Of course not.
To make the team, a person needs a ton of other abilities and skills.
The same is true of academic achievement. A minimum level of g-loaded intelligence is an entry requirement (likely <130 minimum), but there are many other factors, and opportunities aren't the only ones. Creativity, ability to make connections, ability to work with others, ability to get stuff done...the list goes on. And some of these factors are critical in some situations but not in others.
It all depends.Put another way, if an IQ of 130 and great opportunities are all it takes to make incredible discoveries in STEM, we should putting single-dose anti-cancer pills in our first aid kits when we set out to explore distant galaxies by now. There are millions upon millions of people with IQs that high walking around (and more in the past), and yet here we are, still on earth, still suffering with cancer.
(You're also assuming that a high IQ will yield "great results," which is most definitely NOT the case, as some of the nastier but very intelligent historical figures have demonstrated and are demonstrating.)
