Minorities lag in AP test performance

[IanC]

1. how can a diploma be earned in the first place if the proper criteria (ie the required subject matter) is not thoroughly learned and comprehended. certainly you're not suggesting that all black people with degrees acquired them through impure means.

2. the need for a degree to lend credibility to an individual's intelligence and competence is a largely western construct. while there are definitely some benefits to the postsecondary educational system in our country and a degree/diploma will afford one a certain level of confidence about their prospective employees, it is not valid as the pentultimate marker or determinant of one's intelligence

i mean, look at how i talk. . . .i'm only 22, yes a black woman, very articulate and no, i have never earned a degree from any institution of higher learning.

I believe that a degree, at least in STEM, is an expensive promissary note guaranteeing at least triple digit IQ and the ability to learn. Many other degrees do no such thing. I believe the system is broken when an individual passes the requirements to get a degree in teaching and then is unable to pass a state qualification exam. Blacks as a group are not even likely to pass many states' exams. how can diploma'ed teachers not pass these fairly simple tests? how can they teach things if they don't know them? how many other areas are in just as bad of shape that we don't know about because there is no public access to competency evaluations?

I dropped out of the 12th grade b/c the classes were so full I couldn't hear what the teachers were talking about. So, I went and got my GED in TWO WEEKS and I scored a 96%. The teacher told me that I was the first person to do that. I am an African American woman who also has White genes. My eyes are green, I am fair skinned and when i was younger I had long light brown hair with blonde streaks. In school I was called 'white girl". I hated it!! Back then I didn't realize the benefits of having the white gene in me. I have worked at the same company for 21 yrs. I guess it's because the white gene overrode the black gene and that's the reason I've stayed at the same company all these many years. Right? What do you think?

! The teacher told me I was the first person who had ever done that. I am an African American woman

good grief casper! what do you think the message in your post comes off as?

 

[IanC]

because this country places little to NO value on education. besides the fact that the educational system in our country is lopsided, biased, in the ways that we just enumerated.

it will require a major paradigm shift on the part of the PTB before any of these glaring issues can ever be rectified. but, of course we know that the conservatives who are trying to preserve only certain aspects of the American way of life (which need no detailing here) would prefer that the masses be left as ignorant as they possibly can and so they will continue to tailor the system in a manner such that only a select few, who were born into a life where they were afforded certain privileges to begin with will be able to move consistently upward in terms of education.

only those who will serve to further the ultimate agenda will stand a chance, and it will seem to the lay person that there must be a disparity or some inequality in intellect along race or class lines.

education depends on schools, parents and especially the students. Confucius had a quote about not teaching the disinterested because it is a waste of time. stupid and disinterested students of all races bring problems on themselves by not trying. many parents fail their children by not encouraging them to strive for achievement. and some teachers give up and become disillusioned after years of disappointing results. but most students learn, most parents encourage their children and most teachers succeed at imparting knowledge.

your paranoid view of overlords holding people down is BS. individuals succeed or fail mostly on their own efforts. quit looking for someone to blame and start demanding individuak responsibility.

I can definitely agree that a large part of the responsibility lies with the individual. However, for you to dismiss the idea that there are those who are working to ensure that only certain people can sink their teeth into the coveted american pie as BS suggests that you are not objectively observing your surroundings.

from the tone of our debate, i get the impression that you are a white man, and if this is true, i can say with no small measure of confidence, that you will never understand the implications of what it means to be a person of color in the world, not to mention in the West.

from the time of conception, the odds are stacked against the black man/woman. not only in educational opportunities, but largely because of a mindset, which while no longer fashionable, still exists to a very large degree in our country.

add to this the generations of abuse and second class citizenship we have been subjected to, and the picture should start to become more clear as to why minority students are not as motivated as they could/should be in school.

my generation of black children will be the last of those which will be reared by parents who lived during the jim crow era, but you must understand, that while times change quickly, mentalities do not, and the messages and impressions that were drilled into blacks for centuries will not be shaken in a few decades.

furthermore, these messages and impressions have not been done away with. If you're unclear on what i mean, turn on your television and get a load of the black people/models you see on TV and note the african americans" that you see. an uninformed person would get the impression that all black people here are light-skinned, of the mulatto or bi-racial variety. long flowing hair, slim noses, thin lips, an impossible waist line and sundry other CAUCASIAN characteristics are touted as the standard of beauty across the board for americans.

while there are many of us who intellectually know that all colors are beautiful, subconsciously the message that is imparted is that the more African you look, the less you belong and it results in a large group of people being ashamed of who they are, and attempting to identify with a standard which can only serve to the detriment of their self-image and esteem.

your confucian quip resonates with the Hermetic axiom "the lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of understanding." i couldn't agree with that more, but that idea only works when there is a level playingfield (please forgive the cliche) to begin with. when you are made to feel that certain things are expected from you (being black automatically gives you a connotation of illicitness, rebelliousness, coolness, etc) and other positive and beneficial things have been kept out of your reach for so long, human frailty will most often drive one to do what is easiest, and to stop striving for excellence

this is not to excuse those who do not take the initiative to better themselves, but they are factors that must be considered.

Even if I take your version as the whole truth, where does that leave society and the racial dilema? Making excuses for black underperformance, and even rewarding it, only leads to more of the same. I am for affirmative action when it is geared towards individual initiative rather than racial quotas. I am for social welfare safety nets for those that can't take care of themselves. Yet I am called racist for noticing racial disparities and invoking measured racial differences as the main reason rather than evil white racism. I, and most whites, choose to help but I am still considered guilty of past racial crimes that I had nothing to do with, while blacks take offence at being lumped in with the 40% that use social programs and the amazingly high crime rate that blacks are blacks are doing NOW.

I think the average black intelligence level is the largest cause of disparities which is then exacerbated by dysfunctional black culture. No one can due much about the genetic component but black culture could change to improve parenting, environmental conditions and expectations. Society has been trying to help (obviously with mixed results) but there is no way to counteract family and peer influence. Change is only possible from within the black mindset and I am not sure whether that is happening in a positive direction.

 

[Flagwavrusa]

So it's whiteys fault that blacks are stupid?

Yes. AP test not designed with minorities in mind. It is designed for affluent whites. Poor white kids have problem with this test also. Minorities tend to be poor and not have the advantages of afluent white kids. This has been discussed time and again. When poor kids in poor neighborhood and schools get seconds in text books, this is what happens. No computers and not updated text books and second rated teachers.
Minorities have to work twice as hard to get ahead or equal as white elite. Not that they are dumb but because they are discriminated against.
Give them a chance and they will excel above white elite. But we cannot let that happen, uh?

Black students do not lack the resources to do well academically. Look how much the District of Columbia spends on its school system and yet its test scores are way below national averages. You could multiply the spending by 10 and it wouldn't make any difference because if the aptitude for learning is not there money won't help. Let's stop blaming white people for the woes of blacks and start training kids to their ability level, regardless of the skin color.

 

[Ozmar]

The performance divide along racial lines wasn’t much better. In Illinois, 75 percent of white students who enrolled in AP courses earned at least one top mark compared to 22 percent of African-American students and 54 percent of Hispanic teens, according to the results from the College Board, which administers the AP tests. About 79 percent of Asian high-school seniors passed at least one AP test.

“I wish we could fix this overnight, but it doesn’t fix overnight,” said Marica Cullen, who oversees curriculum and instruction for the Illinois State Board of Education. “When you bring in more test-takers, you get more students who are edging over and challenging themselves for the first time. It’s a long process … to set the bar higher and help kids achieve.”

The national test results also reflect a racial divide.

While African-American students represented 14.6 percent of the Class of 2010, they were just 3.9 percent of students who scored high enough to earn college credit, the national report shows.
Exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with most colleges awarding credit for a score of 3 or higher.

Hispanic students fared better nationwide and in Illinois. Latino students comprised 16.8 percent of the graduating class nationwide and represented 14.6 percent of students with top scores though that figure drops to 8.9 percent when students' scores on the AP Spanish exam are factored out. In Illinois, 12.3 percent of Hispanic students earned top marks on at least one AP exam while they represented 14.4 percent of last year's graduates.

Asked about the discrepancy among the two minority groups, Trevor Packer, the College Board's vice president for Advanced Placement, said: "We simply do not know."

College board: Minorities lag in AP test performance - chicagotribune.com

They probably have teachers with your mentality. That would be enough to send anyone's test scores into the pit.

 

[IanC]

The performance divide along racial lines wasn’t much better. In Illinois, 75 percent of white students who enrolled in AP courses earned at least one top mark compared to 22 percent of African-American students and 54 percent of Hispanic teens, according to the results from the College Board, which administers the AP tests. About 79 percent of Asian high-school seniors passed at least one AP test.

“I wish we could fix this overnight, but it doesn’t fix overnight,” said Marica Cullen, who oversees curriculum and instruction for the Illinois State Board of Education. “When you bring in more test-takers, you get more students who are edging over and challenging themselves for the first time. It’s a long process … to set the bar higher and help kids achieve.”

The national test results also reflect a racial divide.

While African-American students represented 14.6 percent of the Class of 2010, they were just 3.9 percent of students who scored high enough to earn college credit, the national report shows.
Exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with most colleges awarding credit for a score of 3 or higher.

Hispanic students fared better nationwide and in Illinois. Latino students comprised 16.8 percent of the graduating class nationwide and represented 14.6 percent of students with top scores though that figure drops to 8.9 percent when students' scores on the AP Spanish exam are factored out. In Illinois, 12.3 percent of Hispanic students earned top marks on at least one AP exam while they represented 14.4 percent of last year's graduates.

Asked about the discrepancy among the two minority groups, Trevor Packer, the College Board's vice president for Advanced Placement, said: "We simply do not know."

College board: Minorities lag in AP test performance - chicagotribune.com

They probably have teachers with your mentality. That would be enough to send anyone's test scores into the pit.

interesting. are you able to describe the mechanism by which other peoples' attitudes actually inhibit the brain processing of the 'oppressed' student? does it affect test performance on exams of learned knowledge(AP, IB), ability exams(IQ) or both? how can someone be stopped from learning if they have the same text book and hear the same lectures?

 

[Ozmar]

The performance divide along racial lines wasn’t much better. In Illinois, 75 percent of white students who enrolled in AP courses earned at least one top mark compared to 22 percent of African-American students and 54 percent of Hispanic teens, according to the results from the College Board, which administers the AP tests. About 79 percent of Asian high-school seniors passed at least one AP test.

“I wish we could fix this overnight, but it doesn’t fix overnight,” said Marica Cullen, who oversees curriculum and instruction for the Illinois State Board of Education. “When you bring in more test-takers, you get more students who are edging over and challenging themselves for the first time. It’s a long process … to set the bar higher and help kids achieve.”

The national test results also reflect a racial divide.

While African-American students represented 14.6 percent of the Class of 2010, they were just 3.9 percent of students who scored high enough to earn college credit, the national report shows.
Exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with most colleges awarding credit for a score of 3 or higher.

Hispanic students fared better nationwide and in Illinois. Latino students comprised 16.8 percent of the graduating class nationwide and represented 14.6 percent of students with top scores though that figure drops to 8.9 percent when students' scores on the AP Spanish exam are factored out. In Illinois, 12.3 percent of Hispanic students earned top marks on at least one AP exam while they represented 14.4 percent of last year's graduates.

Asked about the discrepancy among the two minority groups, Trevor Packer, the College Board's vice president for Advanced Placement, said: "We simply do not know."

College board: Minorities lag in AP test performance - chicagotribune.com

They probably have teachers with your mentality. That would be enough to send anyone's test scores into the pit.

interesting. are you able to describe the mechanism by which other peoples' attitudes actually inhibit the brain processing of the 'oppressed' student? does it affect test performance on exams of learned knowledge(AP, IB), ability exams(IQ) or both? how can someone be stopped from learning if they have the same text book and hear the same lectures?

No more so than you are able to articulate a coherent argument. How about you give me something to work with here genius, instead of throwing this strawman bullshit my way, sweetheart.

 

[IanC]

so you have no idea how it happens, why it happens but you are pretty sure it does happen?

what exactly are you calling a strawman? I would be more than happy to refine my arguments if you would care to point out the flaws.

 

[José]

Originally posted by IanC
are you able to describe the mechanism by which other peoples' attitudes actually inhibit the brain processing of the 'oppressed' student? does it affect test performance on exams of learned knowledge(AP, IB), ability exams(IQ) or both? how can someone be stopped from learning if they have the same text book and hear the same lectures?

Ian... take a look at the stupidity spewed by this poster. The guy unashamedly blames whites' attitudes towards blacks (and Hispanics I would imagine) for their low IQ scores (he didn't mention IQ tests but this is what everybody brings to the discussion table).

Originally posted by The Gadfly
Yes, you'd better get rid of Black History Month, and MLK day, and anything else that might raise their self esteem, or make them think they're anything but second class. That'll insure that most of them stay right where you like them, out of sight, out of mind, until they do something bad that makes the headlines.That way, you'll always have those statistics of crime, violence, illegitimate births, absent fathers, ignorance, low achievement, and poor test scores to beat them about the head with, when they get too "uppity", and actually think they deserve to be your equals.

If I hadn't read this with my own eyes I would have never believed it.

Whites are responsible for other races' low IQ test scores!! tsk, tsk, tsk...

This is white guilt taken to a paroxysm of insanity and absurdity.

 

[IanC]

I have always wondered how people can believe IQ is affected by other peoples' opinions. your brain's form and function defines the range of intelligence you have, whether it is measured or not.

 

[Ozmar]

I have always wondered how people can believe IQ is affected by other peoples' opinions. your brain's form and function defines the range of intelligence you have, whether it is measured or not.

An IQ score is affected by the mood someone is in when they take the test. You could be in a bad mood, take the test and score poorly. You could be in a good mood and score a lot better. The fact that you fail to recognize this somewhat explains why you are on your soapbox about race and IQ. Pretty pathetic you are.

Your brain's form and function vary on an hour to hour basis.

 

[IanC]

I have always wondered how people can believe IQ is affected by other peoples' opinions. your brain's form and function defines the range of intelligence you have, whether it is measured or not.

An IQ score is affected by the mood someone is in when they take the test. You could be in a bad mood, take the test and score poorly. You could be in a good mood and score a lot better. The fact that you fail to recognize this somewhat explains why you are on your soapbox about race and IQ. Pretty pathetic you are.

Your brain's form and function vary on an hour to hour basis.

I believe my statement incorporated your point.

why did you not respond to my question about how someone's brain function can be altered by outside opinions? as you said, a person's mood, or state of health is much more important for cognitive performance than weak external influences. do you think only minorities are affected? do you think whites and asians are always happy and healthy, in optimum shape for any test or problem?

 

[The Big Pickle]

An IQ score is affected by the mood someone is in when they take the test.

It's simply amazing the lengths people will go to make excuses for negro intellectual failure. They will come up with the most illogical excuse all the while ignoring the obvious truth that blacks are the bottom of the human intelligence totem pole.

 

[IanC]

The performance divide along racial lines wasn’t much better. In Illinois, 75 percent of white students who enrolled in AP courses earned at least one top mark compared to 22 percent of African-American students and 54 percent of Hispanic teens, according to the results from the College Board, which administers the AP tests. About 79 percent of Asian high-school seniors passed at least one AP test.

“I wish we could fix this overnight, but it doesn’t fix overnight,” said Marica Cullen, who oversees curriculum and instruction for the Illinois State Board of Education. “When you bring in more test-takers, you get more students who are edging over and challenging themselves for the first time. It’s a long process … to set the bar higher and help kids achieve.”

The national test results also reflect a racial divide.

While African-American students represented 14.6 percent of the Class of 2010, they were just 3.9 percent of students who scored high enough to earn college credit, the national report shows.
Exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with most colleges awarding credit for a score of 3 or higher.

Hispanic students fared better nationwide and in Illinois. Latino students comprised 16.8 percent of the graduating class nationwide and represented 14.6 percent of students with top scores though that figure drops to 8.9 percent when students' scores on the AP Spanish exam are factored out. In Illinois, 12.3 percent of Hispanic students earned top marks on at least one AP exam while they represented 14.4 percent of last year's graduates.

Asked about the discrepancy among the two minority groups, Trevor Packer, the College Board's vice president for Advanced Placement, said: "We simply do not know."

College board: Minorities lag in AP test performance - chicagotribune.com

They probably have teachers with your mentality. That would be enough to send anyone's test scores into the pit.

interesting. are you able to describe the mechanism by which other peoples' attitudes actually inhibit the brain processing of the 'oppressed' student? does it affect test performance on exams of learned knowledge(AP, IB), ability exams(IQ) or both? how can someone be stopped from learning if they have the same text book and hear the same lectures?

hahaha. thanks for the neg rep Ozmar. I havent had one for a while. I guess I havent been trying hard enough!

 

[Ozmar]

An IQ score is affected by the mood someone is in when they take the test.

It's simply amazing the lengths people will go to make excuses for negro intellectual failure. They will come up with the most illogical excuse all the while ignoring the obvious truth that blacks are the bottom of the human intelligence totem pole.

It doesn't take much to amaze someone someone as studious as yourself...

 

[Ozmar]

I have always wondered how people can believe IQ is affected by other peoples' opinions. your brain's form and function defines the range of intelligence you have, whether it is measured or not.

An IQ score is affected by the mood someone is in when they take the test. You could be in a bad mood, take the test and score poorly. You could be in a good mood and score a lot better. The fact that you fail to recognize this somewhat explains why you are on your soapbox about race and IQ. Pretty pathetic you are.

Your brain's form and function vary on an hour to hour basis.

I believe my statement incorporated your point.

why did you not respond to my question about how someone's brain function can be altered by outside opinions? as you said, a person's mood, or state of health is much more important for cognitive performance than weak external influences. do you think only minorities are affected? do you think whites and asians are always happy and healthy, in optimum shape for any test or problem?

I honestly thought your question is so absurd that it wasn't worth answering. External influences have a lot to do with cognitive performance. I don't think whites and asians are always happy and healthy, and I think that there are a fair percentage who do not score well on IQ tests, etc. The statistics you quote are averages, which means there are still vast numbers of whites, asians and others who score miserably on the tests...

 

[maatsmom843]

sorry, but this is really getting lame

as per wikipedia:

NationsMain article: Nations and intelligence
A number of literature reviews have found differences in average national IQs. Other studies have found many factors such economic growth, democracy, crime, fertility, or atheism to be associated with average national IQs. In particular for developing nations environmental factors such as malnutrition and diseases likely affect average national IQs.


The Mismeasure of ManSome scientists dispute psychometrics entirely. In The Mismeasure of Man, Harvard professor and paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould argued that intelligence tests were based on faulty assumptions and showed their history of being used as the basis for scientific racism. He criticized

…the abstraction of intelligence as a single entity, its location within the brain, its quantification as one number for each individual, and the use of these numbers to rank people in a single series of worthiness, invariably to find that oppressed and disadvantaged groups—races, classes, or sexes—are innately inferior and deserve their status.(pp. 24–25)


so what

 

[IanC]

An IQ score is affected by the mood someone is in when they take the test. You could be in a bad mood, take the test and score poorly. You could be in a good mood and score a lot better. The fact that you fail to recognize this somewhat explains why you are on your soapbox about race and IQ. Pretty pathetic you are.

Your brain's form and function vary on an hour to hour basis.

I believe my statement incorporated your point.

why did you not respond to my question about how someone's brain function can be altered by outside opinions? as you said, a person's mood, or state of health is much more important for cognitive performance than weak external influences. do you think only minorities are affected? do you think whites and asians are always happy and healthy, in optimum shape for any test or problem?

I honestly thought your question is so absurd that it wasn't worth answering. External influences have a lot to do with cognitive performance. I don't think whites and asians are always happy and healthy, and I think that there are a fair percentage who do not score well on IQ tests, etc. The statistics you quote are averages, which means there are still vast numbers of whites, asians and others who score miserably on the tests...

I totally agree with you that there has to be roughly half of a group below average or above average. who said different? my question to you was; what is the mechanism that causes a physical change in brain form and function when a racist statement is made? personally I dont think there is one. I can see how pounding someone's head with a ballpeen hammer could affect physical cognitive abilities but not verbal statements. I can see how extremely poor diet could cause substandard physical growth but not by 'racist lowered expectations'. People are born with intellectual abilities that are confined to a certain range. health issues and physical accidents can drastically lower that range but optimal environmental conditions only push developement towards the upper end of the original inborn range.

whites around the world tend to average about IQ100. statistically that means 50% of whites will be in the range of IQ90-IQ110. world wide blacks score very low, often averaging in the low IQ70's, but let us use the much higher scoring american blacks who have the benefit of white racial admixture, superior availability to food and health care, and good educational opportunities. american blacks average IQ85 but have a narrower spread, so 50% of blacks fall between IQ77-IQ93. Western society is technologically based and geared to make use of the abilities of the normals (90-110) and to be led by the more able (110+, the top 25%). as you can see there is not much room for blacks in that IQ90+ spread, about a third or less. that is why blacks have great difficulty in education, job performance and wealth accumulation.

even if black culture changes for the better, and stops pushing its members to the lower side of the inborn intellectual range, there will not be equality. without some environmental bottleneck that genetically selects for increased intelligence (like severe winters for asians and caucasians) blacks will have to make due and indeed celebrate the traits Mother Nature bestowed upon them.

 

[IanC]

sorry, but this is really getting lame

as per wikipedia:

NationsMain article: Nations and intelligence
A number of literature reviews have found differences in average national IQs. Other studies have found many factors such economic growth, democracy, crime, fertility, or atheism to be associated with average national IQs. In particular for developing nations environmental factors such as malnutrition and diseases likely affect average national IQs.


The Mismeasure of ManSome scientists dispute psychometrics entirely. In The Mismeasure of Man, Harvard professor and paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould argued that intelligence tests were based on faulty assumptions and showed their history of being used as the basis for scientific racism. He criticized

…the abstraction of intelligence as a single entity, its location within the brain, its quantification as one number for each individual, and the use of these numbers to rank people in a single series of worthiness, invariably to find that oppressed and disadvantaged groups—races, classes, or sexes—are innately inferior and deserve their status.(pp. 24–25)


so what

no one has ever said intelligence is one entity, or that you can rank individuals exclusively by intelligence. that intelligence is seated in the form and function of the brain is undeniable. less intelligent individuals, barring some unusual secondary ability, will usually do poorly on social traits defined by a more intelligent elite. it is that way in any society.

S J Gould was the Tim Wise of his time. long on rationalizations, short on relevant evidence.

edit. malnutrition and disease have always been around. it was the intelligent that formulated plans to decrease them. many of the correlations of social traits to intelligence are difficult to decisively call causation in either direction but the sheer numbers of positive correlations for increased intelligence lead me to think that brain power is probably the most important factor in life.

 

[Ozmar]

sorry, but this is really getting lame

as per wikipedia:

NationsMain article: Nations and intelligence
A number of literature reviews have found differences in average national IQs. Other studies have found many factors such economic growth, democracy, crime, fertility, or atheism to be associated with average national IQs. In particular for developing nations environmental factors such as malnutrition and diseases likely affect average national IQs.


The Mismeasure of ManSome scientists dispute psychometrics entirely. In The Mismeasure of Man, Harvard professor and paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould argued that intelligence tests were based on faulty assumptions and showed their history of being used as the basis for scientific racism. He criticized

…the abstraction of intelligence as a single entity, its location within the brain, its quantification as one number for each individual, and the use of these numbers to rank people in a single series of worthiness, invariably to find that oppressed and disadvantaged groups—races, classes, or sexes—are innately inferior and deserve their status.(pp. 24–25)


so what

no one has ever said intelligence is one entity, or that you can rank individuals exclusively by intelligence. that intelligence is seated in the form and function of the brain is undeniable. less intelligent individuals, barring some unusual secondary ability, will usually do poorly on social traits defined by a more intelligent elite. it is that way in any society.

S J Gould was the Tim Wise of his time. long on rationalizations, short on relevant evidence.

edit. malnutrition and disease have always been around. it was the intelligent that formulated plans to decrease them. many of the correlations of social traits to intelligence are difficult to decisively call causation in either direction but the sheer numbers of positive correlations for increased intelligence lead me to think that brain power is probably the most important factor in life.

I bet you could have personally eliminated disease and famine, smart guy. You are so fucking smart that I bet there would be no wars, poverty, or want for anything.

The very fact that you think intelligence alone is the factor shows your lack of insight and at least partially shows why you can't pull your head out of your ass long enough to see the big picture.

 

[IanC]

sorry, but this is really getting lame

as per wikipedia:

NationsMain article: Nations and intelligence
A number of literature reviews have found differences in average national IQs. Other studies have found many factors such economic growth, democracy, crime, fertility, or atheism to be associated with average national IQs. In particular for developing nations environmental factors such as malnutrition and diseases likely affect average national IQs.


The Mismeasure of ManSome scientists dispute psychometrics entirely. In The Mismeasure of Man, Harvard professor and paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould argued that intelligence tests were based on faulty assumptions and showed their history of being used as the basis for scientific racism. He criticized

…the abstraction of intelligence as a single entity, its location within the brain, its quantification as one number for each individual, and the use of these numbers to rank people in a single series of worthiness, invariably to find that oppressed and disadvantaged groups—races, classes, or sexes—are innately inferior and deserve their status.(pp. 24–25)


so what

no one has ever said intelligence is one entity, or that you can rank individuals exclusively by intelligence. that intelligence is seated in the form and function of the brain is undeniable. less intelligent individuals, barring some unusual secondary ability, will usually do poorly on social traits defined by a more intelligent elite. it is that way in any society.

S J Gould was the Tim Wise of his time. long on rationalizations, short on relevant evidence.

edit. malnutrition and disease have always been around. it was the intelligent that formulated plans to decrease them. many of the correlations of social traits to intelligence are difficult to decisively call causation in either direction but the sheer numbers of positive correlations for increased intelligence lead me to think that brain power is probably the most important factor in life.

I bet you could have personally eliminated disease and famine, smart guy. You are so fucking smart that I bet there would be no wars, poverty, or want for anything.

The very fact that you think intelligence alone is the factor shows your lack of insight and at least partially shows why you can't pull your head out of your ass long enough to see the big picture.

I would be interested in hearing your version of the big picture. do stupid people invent, build and maintain things in your dream world?