Lewis Terman, Edward Lee Thorndike, and Carl Bringham have all greatly contributed to the measurement of intelligence. According to pages 38-39 of the book, the US has utilized IQ for army recruitment, creating a meritocracy, and even eugenics. However, according to page 39, SAT creator Carl Bringham disavowed the test and called it "one of the most glorious fallacies in the history of science, namely that the tests measured native intelligence purely and simply without regard to training or schooling."
How accurate is this claim? Would this claim help debunk the ethnic discrimination that "white Protestants used to keep blacks, Jews, Catholics, and other groups out of the higher ranks of business, academia, and government"(39)? Could this complaint be ignored if it were given to people with similar schooling or students graduating from the same high school or college?
Laura Perlman (laura4@comcast.net)
Over the years, the testing of intelligence has always been controversial. The IQ test was created to be this great equalizer; however, there is no possible way to test “intelligence.” As mentioned by David Shenk, intelligence in a process not a thing that can be measured, weighted, and recorded. Therefore, the IQ does have its limitations and can not test all different aspects of cognitive intelligence. However, the IQ test is NOT a complete failure. However, an IQ test should not be used to prove one’s intelligence or competency to be apart of an academic institution. The IQ test targets certain cognitive skills and educational background sometimes does not have anything to do with it. Currently at the University of Cambridge there is a project to make an intelligence test that provokes different parts of the brain not just certain “skills”. This might show us more insight into someone’s intelligence more fully. As we see in biology, the structure affects the function of certain organisms. For example the hypothalamus is placed in the brain specifically so it can secrete hormones to regulate many processes in the body. So each part of the brain has a specific function; therefore the IQ test cannot accurately test all these functions since that is not what it targets.
ReplyDeleteThe question of whether the IQ test was used as a tool of ethnic discrimination can not be proven. Once again the IQ test tests certain SKILLS. That does not change due to your ethnic background. What is important is the individual person. It is the environment that also plays a big role in effecting one’s intellectual development. Race can be disregarded completely because race is not what controls whether or not we are so called “smart.” It is the environment we grew up in, and the culture and society that we build that affects our intelligence ultimately. Genetics and Environment work together to determine genetic expression, and that is the same for intelligence. That is why the IQ test is not a good measure because it won’t measure academic potential, only current skillsets.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/roger-highfield/8104212/IQ-testing-race-and-controversy-put-your-intelligence-to-the-test.html
Ellen Zhou (ellenzhou2006@gmail.com)