[quote name='gareman']First of all East of what? Why the US of A of course. It is considered offensive because it refers to things AND people of the East implying that the US is the center of the world which is both literally and metaphorically impossible. Its like getting upset because males are referred to as "men" and females are referred to as "persons other than men".
As for the chart its also offensive because for the last decade or more IQ has been seen as almost completely irrelevant to ones intelligence (lets post some phrenology charts while were at it) and the chart also says nothing about the education and test taking prep a person has been exposed to. It's not surprising that predominantly African Americans schools are considerably underfunded, over crowded, outdated, poor etc.[/QUOTE]
What part of 'a few centuries ago' did you not understand? There was no USA in the period in question. The part about predating the use of the magnetic compass should have been a clue.
This was Europe. You know, that western portion of the continent divided into Europe and Asia.
Gee, is it Eurocentric? Yeah, it is. The whole conversation is by default as we're conducting it in English, which means the conventions at work are those developed over many centuries in a particular portion of the world that then went on to become dominant in North America. Get over it.
And as for IQ, you're dismissal of it suggests yours is coming up quite low or you're just the victim of some very badly argued propaganda from people who are horrified at the idea that there is a genetic component to intelligence, making it something that cannot be legislated away.
IQ remains completely valid. It is widely misunderstood but entirely valid. IQ does not test knowledge of a subject. It is not a test of educational attainment in any way, shape, or form. The sole function of IQ is to rate a subject's ability to comprehend a new concept and apply it. You can be a complete illiterate and score very well on an IQ test administered orally. IQ isn't about what you've learned but the ability to learn.
These are not the SATs or anything remotely like that. Those tests are specifically looking for what knowledge and skills have been acquired and to demonstrate the ability to apply those functions.
An SAT-type, for instance, might require a subject to prove mastery of Calculus.
By comparison, an IQ test is looking at rudimentary cognitive ability to determine if the subject is likely to be able to learn Calculus in the first place and to what level of facility.
IQ remains a very effective predictor of academic success. It does not test for factors like motivation or desire or other issues that can impede educational achievement, such as ADD. The fact remains that if you test two five-year-olds and their scores are 100 and 125, then proceed to educate them at their own pace, the one who scored 125 is going to be well ahead of the one who scored 100 after a year.
That doesn't make the slower kid is a useless dummy. Just average, as indicated by the 100 score. Trying to deny the greater ability of the other child is as wrong as attempting to claim that everyone is born with identical athletic abilities.
IQ matters. I've known individuals who had every advantage in life but were simply dullards. I've known others who came out of wretched conditions and within a few years were operating on a par with people who'd grown up in pleasanter situations. At one company I worked at. I had a coworker whose family had been Vietnamese boat people. Those who fled across the ocean in the most desperate of vessels. When he got to the US, he was almost 18, functionally illiterate in his native language, and had never seen a working television, never mind a computer. By the time I met him less than a decade later he spoke very acceptable English, a fair amount of Spanish, was very well read, and was in the process of getting his Computer Science degree.
As you might suspect, he tested quite high for IQ. Around 160. His ability to learn and process new things was amazing. Without that, he might still have made out well on sheer determination but that cognitive ability was a priceless asset.
(and not contagious), I win
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