[lbo-talk] IQ scores (was: Sam Smith on Doug Henwood)

B. docile_body at yahoo.com
Sat Feb 10 06:43:26 PST 2007


Bitch|Lab and others,

Again, that's a huge factor: the test-giver's agenda, his reason for giving the test, his own frailties and biases, etc. The tests are adjusted every few years and "recalibrated" to make sure 100 is average. God forbid everyone have an IQ of 150.

As J. Tyler himself said, and I quote: "An IQ score measures only how well one takes a standardized test."

And what's in the test-giver's mind as he administers it is another factor. has he had a shitty day? Something to prove to young riff-raff he hates? Of course, "professionalism" is supposed to override all that. But "professionalism" in the media is supposed to override pro-status quo biases -- and how does that work?

Like I said, my understanding of the IQ test is that it measures possible scholastic aptitude in younger folks for learning environments. Nothing less, nothing more. I was administered, against my will, IQ tests by my school district, because I hated the fucking place and preferred absenteeism to attendance to their hell-hole. The school district (i.e. govt) called in a psychiatrist to administer some of these tests to me. Many I felt were humiliating. I didn't like the environment under which I was given the test, for one. (Very austere and intimidating.) And, of course, the assumption was that the problem was ME, and how I acted, rather than anything wrong with how the school system operated. Great.

As S.J. Gould mentioned often in _The Mismeasure of Man_, IQ tests -- a means of incredibly determining a unipolar number based on many vague attributes, relatives to culture -- that we call "intelligence," seems foolhardy. It's a test determined, supposedly, to see how well adolescents might perform in structured educational environments as young adults. Period. For some 45 year old to claim he has an IQ of, say 165, makes no sense. That's not what the test is for. I was given the test over several days under complete duress as a young teen. Why folks would PAY and undergo the procedure in their adult life is beyond me. Severe insecurity complex?

Or was it the result of some Barnes & Noble quiz book? Will it get you a good job, or just laid more easily?

Oh -- I'm shipping out for Iraq tomorrow. Anyone wanna take one for the team"?

-B.

bitch at pulpculture.org wrote


> Unfortunately, I happened to have had a sexist math
teacher who
> systematically humiliated me and told me, directly,
that girls weren't good
> at math. After that horrible year, I remained in the
advanced level math
> courses, but pissed my pants every time I looked at
an equation. And
> seriously pissed myself when it came to tests. I
couldn't learn in a
> classroom with a teacher. I had to do it outside the
classroom, using books
> from the library. I would suck all year long on
exams in class and anything
> associated with a math teachers, then sit for finals
and get 98s and 99s.



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