Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh! I can't shut my brain off!!!
Ok. Next point I'm gonna make: the IQ test (aka Binet or Simon-Binet Scale) was originally developed for school children in France by Alfred Binet to differentiate between children who were intellectually normal, those who were superior, and those who were inferior. The purpose was to put the children into appropriate schools based on their scholastic needs.
Binet himself cautioned against misuse of the scale or misunderstanding of its implications ~ the scale was designed with a single purpose; to serve as a guide to identify children in the schools who required special education. It was not designed to be used as “a general device for ranking all pupils according to mental worth.”* Binet also noted that “the scale, properly speaking, does not permit the measure of intelligence, because intellectual qualities are not superposable, and therefore cannot be measured as linear surfaces are measured.”*
Intelligence can not be described as a single score, and the use of the IQ scale as a definite and final statement of a child's (or adult's) intellectual capability would be a severe and limiting mistake. Seems to me, that we as a society have done very well in making such a mistake.
Finally, there is another problem with IQ tests: individuals with learning disabilities. Granted, the IQ test was developed over a century ago, but 'learning disabilities' did not exist then. Although the IQ test has been re-done since then, the current one is still based on the original. Most people with learning disabilities have deficiencies in one or more of the component skills that are part of these IQ tests — memory, language, fine motor skills, etc. So, they may end up having a lower IQ score than a person who does not have such problems, even though the learning disabled people may both have identical (or better) reasoning and problem-solving skills.The lower IQ score may be a result of the learning disability, not of actual intelligence. Personally, I think that IQ scores underestimate the real intelligence of the individual with a learning disability, and of a persons potential intellectual capacity.
* Gould, S. J., The Mismeasure of Man (New York: W. W. Norton, 1981), 151-152
Ok. Now I'm done. [8|]
Edited to add: If men are sooo logical, and not emotional, why is it men who start wars? Who is it that is an emotional baby when they're sick? Logic would dictate to ask for directions when lost, intead of driving around like you know where you are. Just sayin' [;)]
