Are they testing them for what they know, or if they are capable of processing information?
Regarding inner city blacks, I have no doubt they may not know much, nor are they expected to.
Do “they” differentiate between black ghetto types and middle class or professional blacks?
How about the IQs of British blacks...they seem far advanced over “African-Americans”...at least they can speak the language.
I think it’s cultural, since we see other blacks participating successfully in the American economy and as professionals.
They’ve used a variety of what are called IQ tests, both individually administered and pencil and paper tests. There is no question, the inner city kids and those without an intact family don’t get the exposure to language from an early age.
Researchers have actually tape recorded verbal interaction in homes and looked at the number of different words the kids are exposed to on average in a day. In some families children are exposed to hundreds of different words. In other famiies there is very little verbal interaction. The children with the rich verbal environment do much better on IQ tests. On average. Programs like Headstart can’t seem to make up for the lack of parental verbal interaction.
It makes sense. If a child is not exposed to words, or if they’re not exposed to concepts like less/more, over/under, good/bad, big/small, sweet/sour - they’re not going to do well in school when other children are being taught letters and numbers at the age of two or younger.