It actually doesn't sound like it differs among races for racial (genetic) reasons but cultural/environnmental reasons, if that is accurrate. I also suspect economic class plays a role and increased prosperity usually leads to better educational outcomes as well.
Absolutely. Pump all the money we do into public schools and they still fail in areas with a lot of poverty. I believe that is because of where the kids are going home to after school.
I have a lot of concerns with IQ tests, particularly for children.
As an educator, I believe that we wait way to long to test children. We would never build a race car and not turn it on until the Indy 500 when the announcer says "Ladies and Gentlement, start your engines." We would test on a practice track to see if it will be able to perform among all the other cars. Yet, we sit a child down in first grade to learn to read and "see how they do."
This article takes a rather comprehensive look at IQ, IQ tests and overall intelligence as well as the dangers associated with placing too much weight on them
Children as young as three have been defined for life by IQ tests. With what we know today, do IQ tests serve any useful purpose?
bigthink.com
But, there are two major problems with IQ.
The first problem with IQ stems from those who misunderstand what it’s trying to measure. IQ measures your score on a test against the averages of everyone else taking that test. It tells you how good someone is at answering certain types of questions, as compared with others. Thus, it’s not about an absolute intelligence, but relative intelligence. The trouble occurs when people misunderstand this point. They assume IQ represents raw “brain power.” Worse, some people equate IQ with worth. Employers, especially, might write off a person based on a low IQ. Doing so fails to appreciate that many employees can offer skills and abilities that lie beyond the scope of IQ tests (such as personality factors like conscientiousness).
Right. That's why I said that low IQ does not equal "less intelligent." It also doesn't equal "bad worker." Most jobs do not require strong fluid reasoning ability. Most jobs are simply to follow a set procedure. Attendance, punctuality, honesty, and work ethic are much more important for those jobs.
Furthermore, the correlations mentioned above — that is, those between IQ and success — are still, statistically, considered small ones. Additionally, we cannot rule out many other factors clouding the issue. As one meta-analysis concludes, “A closer look at the data and results… suggests a rather murkier picture.” In short, the data we have — the data some people use to pigeon-hole a person for life — is desperately weak and inconclusive.
That's one study. A meta-study, means that they looked at data from several studies to find a pattern. That kind of study makes it very easy to cherry pick the data. All of the experimental studies have shown IQ testing to be robust, valid, and reliable, which have specific meaning in experimental psychology.
I give credit to the psychological community for not reversing themselves on the validity of IQ in spite of all the pressure. To do so would mean a complete abandonment of their field as an experimental science.
The second problem is that IQ is far too narrow a metric to dominate so much of the psychometric landscape. IQ represents only one, or a few, kinds of intelligence. Even the ancient Greeks knew there were different types of intelligence. For example, there was techne (vocational skills), episteme (general knowledge), phronesis (practical wisdom), or nous (a kind of rational intuition). In an interview for Big Think, the psychologist Howard Gardener identifies eight different kinds of intelligence, and “IQ tests and other kinds of standardized tests valorize” only two of them.
Another thing with test score gaps is it isn't just Blacks but other minorities such as Hispanic and Native Americans that have similar trend while Asians are the opposite.
Yes. I believe that it is environmental and cultural. By "cultural," I don't mean a bunch of stereotypical people listening to rap music that "rots their brain," while looking for the next baby mamma. I mean the availability of books in the home, compared to video games, parents educational level, emphasis on education, peer pressure to not "act white," etc.
The Brookings article is interesting! Two items of caught my attention:
The three most common “conservative” explanations for the black-white gap-genes, the culture of poverty, and single motherhood-are also hard to reconcile with the available evidence. There is no direct genetic evidence for or against the theory that the black-white gap is innate, because we have not yet identified the genes that affect skills like reading, math, and abstract reasoning. Studies of mixed-race children and black children adopted by white parents suggest, however, that racial differences in test performance are largely if not entirely environmental in origin.
Yes, absolutely. What is needed are studies to look at each variable that is different in a typical black home compared to a typical white home. Or, since there is a high correlation between poverty and IQ, a typical poor home versus a typical middle class home.
For example, suppose valid surveys show that black families tend to allow their kids to watch television or play video games before going to bed, while white families tend to read stories to their children at bed time. Take say sixty families that are television watchers and divide them randomly into two groups. Ask one group to continue with the television/games and the other to read stories or have stories read by audio to their children. In one year measure the average IQ of each group.
My guess is that you would see an increase in the IQ's of the read-to group. If not, try something else, like nutritional changes.
The noteworthy part which is too long to paste, is the "New Directions", ideas for closing the test score gap.
Do you have a link to that, or was it in your link? I'd like to see it.
As an American, I want us all to be equal. If I won the powerball, I'd use the money to fund research into closing that gap.
manhattan.institute
www.brookings.edu
thegrio.com
