[Wardenclyffe]

If that's the case, then why can't the average teenager of today pass an 8th grade final exam from 1900? Just wondering.

[DannyTN]

Projecting back would be a problem in any case. To take a short term gain and assume it for long term history is ridiculous, unless you have very strong reasons for thinking that the rate of change was steady over time. And there is no reason to believe that in this case.

[aft_lizard]

Do you have proof that todays 8th grader couldn’t as you presume? Or are you using that already debinked multiple times 8th grader exam from Salina as your evidence?

[ml/nj]

I.Q. scores have been rising steadily

I thought IQ scores were statistically based: 100 meant you made the average score, 115 meant you were one standard deviation above the mean, 130 two standard deviations. How can such scores rise?

ML/NJ

[Tax-chick]

A person can’t pass an exam if he hasn’t learned the facts and skills tested, irrespective of the person’s basic intelligence.

[rbg81]

Back in 1900, HS graduates were a lot less prevalent than they are today. In truth, graduating HS was probably today’s equivalent of a BS degree (from some schools).

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

I don’t think the Flynn effect is as damning to the validity of IQ testing as many think. IQ is a combination of two things - learned information and innate g. More properly, I should say that it is an indicator of g that is modified by the application of learned information. A good IQ test, however, doesn’t rely on learned information (i.e. book knowledge) as much as it does innate thinking skills - which maximises the contribution from g. The Flynn effect reflects a rise in the absolute education standard in America, but I think it probably represents not so much a raising of actual IQ as it reflects a lessening of the DEPRESSION of tested IQ because of lower education standards.

[domeika]

3 pts per decade?
Or, maybe the tests were skewed once twice and thrice so as to embrace diversity. If you haven't read it yet, pick up a copy of "The Bell Curve". Quote any part of it to a liberal if you desire the effect of poking them in the eye with a sharp stick.

[fr_freak]

If that's the case, then why can't the average teenager of today pass an 8th grade final exam from 1900? Just wondering.

My belief is that a certain percentage of people are stupid in any generation, and there is simply no changing that fact. However, back in 1900, the stupid ones weren't babysat through 12 years of public school. If they were stupid, they dropped out in the 2nd or 3rd grade, or maybe never went to school, and thus the remaining students by 8th grade were, across the board, more capable of learning advanced things. Nowadays, kids are kept in school no matter how stupid they are, and the curriculum is dumbed down to their level, even for the smart kids. The effect goes well into college, too, because college is now seen as an entitlement. My experience in college 12 years ago was that, at least for the general ed stuff, the material was dumbed down to what I would consider junior high level and full of leftist pablum.

[fr_freak]

All Kpelle tribesmen are rice farmers.

Mr Smith is not a rice farmer.

Is he a Kpelle man?

This may seem like perfectly logical question to which it would be equally valid to answer "no". But to the tribesman it was completely unreasonable to ask this. He replied "If you do not know a person, and a question comes up, it’s hard for you to answer. Because I don’t know 'Mr Smith' I can't answer the question." This answer is equally valid but incorrect for the purpose of an IQ test.

I'd say that this is incorrect and muddled thinking. The answer the tribesman gave is incorrect regardless of his cultural background. He was given the logical rules in the question, yet failed to apply them to reach a conclusion. This is done quite often in modern society as well, but we don't excuse it with some PC multi-cultural nonsense. Chances are, the researcher was merely talking to a stupid Kpelle tribesman. If that researcher had gone through every tribesman there was and they all gave that answer, there might be cause to look for a cultural bias, but one guy proves nothing. A better method would have been to use non-real world test items. For example: "All widgets are pink. This thing is yellow. Is it a widget?" Let's see the Kpelle fellow BS his way out of that one.

[Billthedrill]

Linear extrapolation kills, especially on a topic where the standards of measurement have been inconsistent ever since they were invented.

What has changed these days is that people don't have as long an attention sp - hey, did you catch the game last night?

[Richard Kimball]

Just a couple of thoughts.

College and other higher education used to be restricted to the upper classes. It wasn't available to everyone. Most students did not graduate from high school. Today, a greater cross section of races and IQ levels are tested. Much of the IQ testing variances happens today because we test a larger cross section of people.

Education teaches to the test. If I've been exposed to a question type before, I have a better chance of answering it correctly. Here's an old chestnut that I've seen before: Draw four straight lines without picking up the pencil or retracing, and touch every dot.

This is the correct answer.

If you've seen this before, you have a much higher chance of getting it correct, and also of getting similar questions correct that are based on the same technique.

IQ testing people who know what they're doing can evaluate IQ very accurately, because there are correcting techniques to compensate for lack of formal education and other variances. IQ testing, although used and trusted, is discredited in the general populace as not being "that accurate" because it reveals some things that just aren't politically correct. Asians test out highest. Jews test out second. Whites after that. Then hispanics. Then blacks. The variances show that it takes an above average intelligence black to compete with an average intelligence white. Affirmative action, test norming, and other techniques are used to try and equalize results, but in the final analysis, the only way to get an equal representation of races in professions is by quotas. The Illuminati cannot and will not admit this, but if you look at their actions, you know they believe it. In the firefighter case before Sotomayor, the real issue is this: A large percentage of the town is black. The fire department is almost entirely white. They've got to have more black firefighters at upper ranks to appease the voters. The black firefighters could not compete academically. The town went to their only politically viable option. Damn the qualifications. Promote by race.

Intelligence is not the only variable, but all other things being equal, a more intelligent person will beat a less intelligent person in almost anything. You can say, "Oh yeah? Gimme a 280 pound super strong moron and he'll be a better offensive lineman than a 130 pound genius!" Very true. BUT, take a 280 pound super strong moron and pit him against a 280 pound super strong intelligent guy and he's going to lose.