When I was four years old they tried to test my IQ, they showed me this picture of three oranges and a pear. They asked me which one is different and does not belong, they taught me different was wrong.

DiFranco frames an early childhood “IQ test” as a lesson in social conformity rather than neutral measurement. The simple puzzle—spotting the odd fruit—becomes a metaphor for how institutions train children to treat difference as deviance. By saying “they taught me different was wrong,” she suggests that the real test was ideological: rewarding categorization and sameness, discouraging curiosity, ambiguity, or nonconformity. The quote aligns with her broader artistic preoccupations—skepticism toward authority, critique of standardized norms, and defense of outsider identities—casting “intelligence” as inseparable from cultural values and power.