Monday 3 April 2006

IQ OK?

According to this, not only the Dutch and Germans but also the British and Belgians score more highly on IQ tests than the French (who were probably thinking of what they were going to have for dinner when they took the test). From their scores, Belgians are more French than Dutch, although given the differences between language communities/Regions (which have separate education systems and ministries, the Flemish one being rated by the OECD as among the best in the world), I wonder how the tests were done.
I'm not sure I believe IQ tests truly reflect natural intelligence in the first place, let alone that it makes sense to compare scores between whole "nations", but in any case it's worth noting that:
a) the spread between highest and lowest scores is not all that great, basically all the countries listed fall in the "normal" range, and
b) some education systems might make less intelligent people appear more intelligent than they naturally are, and I wonder whether the opposite isn't also true: thinking of some Germans I have met, if they have a high IQ their - incredibly long - education seems to have trained them to conceal it, and
c) it doesn't necessarily matter anyway how intelligent someone supposedly measures as being in IQ tests, if they are completely lacking in practical common sense and/or qualities like empathy, integrity...

1 Comments:

At 4/4/06 03:52, Blogger b o o said...

point (c) really hits home. people who are high in IQ, are typically low on EQ & AQ (adversity quotient) but thats not everyone though..

 

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