I know many of my generation are bitter that we did not succeed in life, not because we did not have intelligence or the will to learn, but because we came from poor families.
When I got to secondary school, my social background had more to do with how I got on in school than my intelligence. There was a distinct class system in the all-girls school I attended, and there were three strata to it. Boarders were top of the list, then came the girls from the town and at the bottom of the pile were country girls.
Those in the first two groups were put in the L, or Latin, class and geared towards university from the first day they set foot in the school. The remaining group was put in the C, or commerce, class and geared for housework, office work or - if someone overachieved - perhaps even nursing school.
When I was young, it was important to know your place. If you dared try to rise above yourself, there were any amount of people to correct you and put you back where you belonged.
Becoming a member of Mensa was a liberation for me, in that it proved I had the intelligence I always knew I had. I went through the school system without anyone seeing me as anything other than a farmer's daughter lucky enough to rise above her station because the government had introduced free education, school transport and a books grant.
I am grateful to the Government for that chance, but it had yet to see the error of the ways of those who ran the schools, who treated these additions to the education system with contempt and little respect - much as the refugees are treated today.
I know these days are a thing of the past, but they have left scars that will never heal. I saw my future as a bright winding road when I first went to secondary school, but that dream was stamped on and trampled to death because I was poor.
I still hear stories of very gifted children suffering because they are different, teachers who don't care and some who are even jealous of the superior intelligence of their pupils. Do teachers realise the power they have on the life of the child in their keeping? The arrogance of some is unbelievable, and they can destroy what they were entrusted to nurture.
If parents feel their child is intelligent but is not recognised for his or her abilities, then there is help available through Mensa and the Irish Association for Gifted Children. Many adults and children would qualify for Mensa, and it is easy to apply.
First you take a test at home. If you achieve a certain standard, you are invited to take a supervised test, and need a score of 148 or more - the average IQ is 100 - to make the organisation's ranks.
Mensa, which celebrates its 55th anniversary on October 1st, has more than 1,200 members in the Republic and Northern Ireland, and almost 100,000 members worldwide. The only qualification for membership is having an IQ in the top 2 per cent of the population.
Members come from all walks of life, and the society offers them a variety of benefits, including a magazine, regional newsletters, participation in over 100 special-interest groups and a full social calendar, including weekend breaks and intellectual events. In Sligo, we have a total of nine members between town and country.
So does everyone who joins Mensa succeed in life and get all the best jobs? Any member - including myself - will tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. I have found, like many others, that most of us never achieve our full potential. This is due to many things, but the primary cause is how our schools treat us.
Many find high intelligence in a child a threat, and neither recognize nor encourage that intelligence. No child wants to feel different from their peers, so children quickly learn to hide their intelligence and blend in with the crowd. Some are classed as underachievers or troublemakers, as they are often bored with the lessons average children find absorbing or difficult.
For more information, phone the David Schulman, the chairman of Irish Mensa, on 01-2839792, or the Irish Association for Gifted Children, on 01-8735702