Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion About American Mensa

Lisa-
Could you tell me what type of support Mensa could provide for a profoundly gifted child living in an area with no local chapter....and a 300 mile, $1000 plane ride to the nearest town. Would it even be worth it for a 6 year old like that to join? Thanks for the help.

Just looking at their website. Uh, really? They suggest that young gifted kids memorize RICHARD CORY?

http://mensaforkids.org/poetically/MFK-Poetry-8.pdf

Wow. I hope Lisa Van Gemert returns to address this. Having kids memorize and analyze that poem is insane.

"And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head."

Interesting how they try to make this a discussion point: "Notice the juxtaposition of the “calm summer night” with the violence of Cory’s suicide. It makes it even more startling, more intense. Why is Cory’s suicide so surprising?"

No thanks, Mensa.

I mean, it's a good poem, though I think I might even hesitate to assign it to high schoolers, TBH.

But the website home page features a cute cartoon fox and appears to be aimed at bright, but YOUNG children. Two clicks from there, we're putting bullets through our heads?

I looked at the reading lists. I remember them now--I saw them a few years ago. They're nice lists of classics, though Goodnight Moon is out of place on a list for gifted kids in grades K-3, and there are other examples like that. Anyway, the book lists are decent, but dated, and sort of odd in terms of reading level. (Poor leveling of book lists is a pet peeve of mine. I'm forever seeing people recommending Anne of Green Gables to typical 8-year-olds, for instance. It's a lovely book, but today's average 8-year-old is going to be WAY over her head with it. On the other end of the spectrum, you also get people thinking first graders want to read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?")

Ultramarine- that is totally a pet peeve of mine too! Dh has probably heard me vent way to many times on the subject LOL. I think he just tunes me out now when I get going. I couldn't figure out where goodnight moon came from on there. Seriously, that would not even be on my radar for a MG K student. And our school issues Brown Bear in first and it drives me batty! LOL

Let me know if you have any questions! Email me if you need any help.
Lisa

I'll be honest - I'm not super active on forums like this, so I don't know all of the ways that things work and whether people are sincere or just baiting me, but sometimes ignorance is bliss, so I'm just going to go ahead and respond and hope that it's the former!

@AmazedMom - Most of what we do for youth is independent of location, so feel free to email me and I'll send you more information (lisav@americanmensa.org).

Regarding the poetry memorization - although the games are for young kids (and our outdated, about-to-be-redone site landing page is juvenile), there are lots of resources there for older youth and even adults, including the poetry memorization, some of the TED Connections, and the older reading lists.

With regard to the poetry, it would never be expected or recommended that a young child would memorize something inappropriate for them. I'll go add a disclaimer since there was confusion on that.

As far as the reading lists go, the books were chosen by youth librarians in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities. Many are older classics, but one of the keys is that we want kids to be able to access the books readily, even if they only have small, rural libraries.

The list starts with Kindergarten, so we have some quite easy reads there. Of course, as you all know, simple books are quite deceptive sometimes, and upon analysis reveal themselves to share deep themes. For example, "Where the Wild Things Are" is a retelling of Homer's "The Odyssey." Just because something is simple or of few words doesn't make it inappropriate for bright minds. Some books have cultural value. If you are in third grade, at some point, you should have read "Goodnight, Moon." Who knows? It could be a question on Jeopardy!

I may not see further posts on this because I'm out of pocket right now with a family emergency, so if you have suggestions for books you think should be on (or off) the list or have other comments for me, please send me an email - I'd love your input.

Lisa
lisav@americanmensa.org

"...so he can put it down on his college applications."

This is really not a good idea. I am a Mensa member, by the way. And have a kid who just got into every college she applied to, including top colleges (kid is not a Mensa member, but could have joined if she wanted to). Unless your kid was really active in some way in Mensa (serving on a board, organizing activities, etc.) I think it just comes of as sort of a brag about IQ vs. an accomplishment of any kind. You kid likely will have plenty of other things to put on their college application, this really isn't something that people usually put on even if they are members. If you want to encourage him to join Mensa to meet other smart people and have fun with them, that is a great idea. But don't do it as a resume builder... it isn't really seen that way in the college admissions world.

I enrolled my DS7 in Mensa to get the EPGY discount, but then I haven't yet bothered to sign him up for it because he's loving Khan Academy.

The nearest Mensa chapter with other kids is 200 miles away, but it's in the county where my dad lives, so we might go to an event a year or so with them.

Where can I find a list of Local chapters?