This post was inspired by a recent comment on Facebook.
In our modern world we’ve come to define intelligence through a series of measurement, or tests, established by those who believe they know what makes up intelligence and what doesn’t. There are a whole variety of tests we may be subject to beginning with standardized testing now in public schools, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (then Scholastic Assessment Test, now just SAT), and the American College Testing (now just ACT) find their origins in the early American Army Intelligence tests. Now one or the other is required for admission to almost every college in America.
Of course, there are a series of other intelligence tests that fall into and out of favor with those credentialled masters who seek to know who has the right intelligence to achieve something. It should not be missed that every test from the SAT on has been called into question for basing their assessment on a racial bias set of answers. Minority communities where there are far wider cultural differences often score lower on these standardized tests than the majority populations.
To keep the appearance of fairness, if not really the actuality of the same, elite institutions have developed quota systems where performance on these “intelligence” tests are overridden by minority admission policies, which only seem to apply to minorities from the right social group. Take, for example, Asian-Americans have an ongoing lawsuit against Harvard University for its discrimination. So far Harvard has prevailed but the group “Students for Fair Admissions” has filed a petition for writ of certiorari in an attempt to overturn “Grutter v. Bollinger” which ruled it was constitutional for universities to use race in admissions to promote student diversity.[1] The issue seems to me to be purely cultural. Let’s accept the fact, as so many on the left would have us believe, there is a longstanding racial bias in this nation. Asian-Americans outperform all other ethnic groups when it comes to these standardized tests.[2] These studies all talk about how much better the AA do but none of these social analysts seem to want to address the elephant in the room. Nobody wants to talk about the family and how the destruction of the family unit perhaps destroys an individual’s motivation to prepare, study, practice, and succeed on these measures of intelligence.
Over the past couple of decades, the average scores on the SAT and ACT have markedly declined, yet the Asian-American segment continues to excel.[3] Does that mean Asian-Americans or Asians, in general, are inherently smarter than all the rest? Who is willing to compare the statistics of Asian-American families to say the African-American or European-American family unit to see what role a forceful set of parents can play? It doesn’t appear to be of much interest to most of the liberal-progressive crowd, especially when you can rationalize away failure as systemic racism.
Back in the mid-20th century, I had an old Sociology professor who attempted to explain things like intelligence and physical ability as naturally occurring sets of attributes. As he explained, the Negros came from Africa and as a result of their genetic selection, they could run longer, jump higher, sprint faster, and were gifted in these attributes because of natural selection. They were, he went on to explain not as gifted as the whites from Europe in their intellect because living on the savanna didn’t require the same mental development as the whites. When I was listening to this I wondered what Darwin would say, but as you look at professional sports today it does make you wonder. Of course, within the modern construct, this Professor was clearly and overtly a racist.
For the record, as a social science major, I buy into the idea society fits into a bell-shaped curve. The range of measurable intelligence supposedly falls between 0 and 175, with 100 being a median score and 85 to 115 being one standard deviation[4], which means 68% of a population will fall somewhere within that range. Let’s call that range average. Anything higher than 115 is smart, anything less than 85 is not smart.
As you take all those intelligence tests on Facebook, keep these numbers in mind, as well as the fact you are feeding into Google’s database so they know what products to sell you, or even if you are able to understand their marketing approach.
Of course, in today’s woke world we are redefining how intelligence is measured. For the woke generation it’s all about understanding and complying with the social outrages they have been indoctrinated to abhor. If, for example, you choose to pursue a military career, you clearly have to fall on the not smart scale of intelligence. Or, if you think less government is better than more government or are a conservative/Trump supporter you have to fall on the not smart side of intelligence. On the other hand, if you have a Ph.D. in one of the social sciences, or perhaps one of the genders/sexual orientation fields you clearly must fall well above the average and rank significantly higher in the smart category.
Watch this YouTube video to see the results of a social experiment.
I find it interesting to see the rationalization of those who think themselves superior when actually confronted with an IQ test. Now suddenly emotional intelligence EQ is a critical factor.
[1] https://www.thecollegefix.com/supreme-court-may-finally-intervene-in-asian-discrimination-suit-against-harvard/
[2] https://www.studyinternational.com/news/asian-americans-test-scores-sat-act/
[3] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sat-scores-and-asian-amer_b_3902725
[4] https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-average-iq-2795284
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