I remember in the early 1950's my father, who was then a medical student, brought home the Wexler Bellevue IQ test. As I remember it came in a blue box and was crammed full of cards of peoples faces, colored blocks for assembling into patterns and all kinds of other fascinating stuff.

I was about 8 years old and I had never heard of an IQ test before but, as I listened to my parents talk, I quickly learned that an IQ test score is a very important number. I was full of confidence when my father administered the IQ test.

There were questions about who is the president, what would you do if you saw a stamped envelope lying on the ground, questions about the moods of people according their faces in drawings, block manipulation to make patterns. All very great fun.

Then came the shock. He announced my score as 128 and I could see my mother's face register disappointment as she turned away in disgust. The confidence drained out of my body along with my self esteem.

I vowed to take that IQ test again and score higher to please my mother. When my parents weren't around I took that the box down from my father's closet and studied everything in it very hard. About a month later I asked my father to give me the IQ test again.

This time he announced my score as 134. "You know", my mother said, "Your father's IQ is 144". I didn't ask to take the IQ test again.

So what does that have to do with anything? For one thing, mothers and fathers should not be administering IQ tests to their children. For another, IQ tests and their meaning have evolved considerably in 50 years. While I still get great enjoyment from taking IQ tests and seeing the result I look on them now as a momentary challenge, not a sure predictor of my life's path.