Intelligence and our society

I was reading an internet article yesterday that was reviewing some study that found vegetarians had higher IQs than ominvores. As  a vegetarian I was curious and read the article to find out that this 8-10 point IQ difference was only found in England, not the U.S. and the IQ was measured when the subjects were children.  So I began wondering why our society has such a static view of intelligence.

People claim that the IQ tests actually measure intelligence, but they really only measure a certain kind of intelligence, and they certainly don't work for all kinds of people.  Yet, we still continue to view them as some definitive measure of a person's intellectual value.  I think about my childhood and how I was tested multiple times for the gifted program before I got in.  Suddenly my IQ was high enough.  What about me had changed?  Had I suddenly learned how to take the tests?

 I also think about how the experiences we have in life changed me and expanded my ways of thinking.  Is that intelligence or wisdom?  What is the difference?

I guess what it comes down to is that someone in our society has decided that once you're labeled as intellgent or less intelligent  that's it you're stuck with it for life.  Maybe it's this same ridiculous static worldview that leads to things like the tea party and other people who are unwilling to see a larger world view.  Maybe these people need a static view of intelligence because if we didn't have one, their stasis would reveal how unintelligent they really are--they are the ones who haven't expanded, who haven't grown, who stay stuck with an IQ from grade school.

It's time to move on and recognize how people expand their intelligence every day, every experience, every bit wiser.