All Comments on 'A Shift in the Balance of Power'

Story is ok, but just ok. It could use and be so much more. This is like the intro to the rest of their life. Where is it?????

The power is about to switch. BAM!!!!!! she's pregnant.🤭🤰

tests have to do with real life interpersonal relations necessary to joint problem solving? I can say this as one of those high per-centers. Different people approach things in different ways and in the end it is the results they get that count. I've seen so many high test score people was out because they really had no work ethic or couldn't work with other people. An a few of my best hires had little or no college. This in a very high tech field. The smartest two I think I ever worked with were a high school senior and a graduate of an engineering school no one here has ever heard of.

I scored 143 on an IQ test in middle school. My teacher had recommended it to see if I belonged in what used to be called 'talented and gifted' classes. Conversely, the highest I have scored on a 'test' Wonderlic was 24.

Which was more accurate? Who can say? The problem here is these two people really don't seem meant to be together.

Jenifer needs the college degree to have the knowledge to complete the actual work. Many high IQ people must complete their schooling to again this knowledge. Where they excel is in the application of their knowledge. In my work I had many employees who had higher IQ than I did but they couldn’t understand the material sufficiently to apply it to abstract conditions. I refer to this as a lack of “Lateral Thinking”. They couldn’t think out of the box. I believe that Kevin had this ability but Jenifer didn’t.

Both Kevin and Jennifer seem to be really full of themselves. If they were normal, confident people her having an high IQ wouldn't be a problem. But because they each have an inflated ego that is based solely around their accomplishments relative to others they are having this stupid power conflict. Not to say that accomplishments aren't a part of self worth, but they take it to the extreme.

There are definitely people like this in real life. And they tend to be as annoying as the characters in this story are.

Also, considering her IQ, wouldn't the company fund her education instead of promoting her? Most companies are willing to invest in you if they see potential, but will not give you the actual job until you get the degree. I guess her promotion was more for dramatic effect but, still, little nitpick that bothered me.

sometimes not always kids go off to college cause 'they got nothin else to do'..social workers,teachers,etc...sometimes just drift into these jobs,not because they want to change the world but proly cause they suck @ math and science..just sayin..take a look @ the courses offered @ most colleges....,german film in the 1930's,women and peace studys,things one my have an interest in as a hobby but Never carve out a living with..smart kids are a dime a dozen [i know i have one] it takes drive,and social skills,manors,work ethic,to achieve success in this world,of the 30 or so couples we hung out with in or 20's [ i'm 62 now yikes] the plumber that started his own biz. and the electrician who did the same,out earned all the others [most w/ college degrees] combined..college is so over rated and great for some who know what they want to get out of it...it's not for every one..rant over..ty...stlcris

The length of the story is appropriate, but the subject is rather ham-fisted. Unless the college education Kevin has is just a paper-mill, he's capable even if he's having to use strategies to cope with his less than average intelligence (IQ can and does vary, particularly with age, though none of it is generally significant).

Jen's IQ is impressive, but why is she only a secretary? Why didn't she pursue higher education when it became clear to her it would be required for her ambition? The IQ test generated ambition in her that wasn't already there?

Unlikely. I don't find this, or it's previous story, very believable. Most of it's the forced nature characterized by comments like 'fragile male ego', which are the sorts of things said by people without enough life experience to know that women have just as fragile of an ego, and that rather it's fragile human ego.

The worst thing, however, is probably something you wouldn't be aware of; most of the general public isn't. My experiences with social workers would lead me to acknowledge that it isn't intelligence, or lack thereof, which characterizes their profession, but resiliency not seen in most people. It takes a lot out of a person to view the kind of things they do on a daily basis: abused children, spouses, drug addicts, people with debilitating diseases and all sorts of things that would break most people's spirits, and make a career out of trying, and usually failing, to help them. Kevin might have a bruised ego over the IQ test, but his behavior in this story would be out of character for a social worker. And no, I'm not a social worker.

But if you ever wondered why the turnover is so high in social work (well, along with the low pay and absurd hours and demands, and the way the public treats them in general), you have an explanation above. I've been unfortunate enough to have been in the position to need to work with several over the last decade, and my opinion of them has both sourced and plummeted, but they have an extremely difficult job I know that I could not personally handle, and I have a significantly higher IQ than Jen (as measured by a few different tests).

Yes, IQ is perhaps the best current method available to predict success, but it's still not very good. Past history is, IMO, a far more reliable indicator of future performance.

You're right, a high IQ is no guarantee of success. However, it is a useful tool as a frame of reference. The Wonderlic is designed to give employers an idea of an employee's or perspective employee's skill in solving problems and speed in learning new material. It is not an end-all and be-all of competence, nor should it be used that way. That said, IQ tests do have their place and should not be dismissed as racist, culturally-biased tools designed solely by elitists to discriminate on the basis of race, ethnic origin, etc.

In my company, the management wanted the middle managers to obtain MBA's to get promoted. So 21 middle managers wrote the university MBA entrance exam which was out of 800 points. Also two junior engineers wrote the same tests. When the results were returned none of the middle managers met the university MBA score requires. But one of the junior engineers who worked for me ( a first level supervisor) got 686 out of 800 and the other junior engineer got 730 out of 800. Guess what management cancelled the course, lol! Management were not going to promote a junior engineer to an upper management position even though they got excellent scores. This was because they didn't meet the "experience level" required for the job. Just because you get high IQ results, this doesn't mean you can do the job.

We never know what the future might bring. Jennifer has the impression that she will dominate their marriage and Kevin appears willing to let her. But balance of power can shift like the wind. As Dylan wrote, "the first one now will later be last." Life's unpredictability, its twists and turns, can make for interesting plot lines. I might write a follow-up to this one.

it perfectly correct - run away - as fast as you can so you can retain some semblance of manhood, dignity and your balls...

Run as fast as you can away from her. Your life will be hell.

He shoulda left, cancelled the wedding, and found a woman more on his level. this sounds like some femdom BS coming up.