We need to talk about IQ (Thread)

So, ever since I was a child, I was routinely submitted to batteries of intelligence tests, as my parents and teachers thought I was smart.

I think we need to question the very concept of "intelligence," because it is flawed.

Fist and foremost, we need to study the history of these standardized tests.

They first began in the late enlightenment period, as a means of identifying not the inferior, but actually, students that needed more help and instruction. They were not designed to elevate anyone.

However, quite soon, these tests were adopted by Eugenicists, not to identify those that needed more instruction, but as a means to lord themselves over those that they felt were inferior. As at the time, as now, Europe suffered from significant classism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_eugenics

The old-guard nobles needed new ways to protect their status, and pseudo-science was one of those ways. Another example would be the invention of Phrenology, which was used to reinforce racism. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2637310 

Of course, the burgeoning American post-civil war, racism movements decided to pick up on this. And both the IQ and Phrenology were indeed embraced in America as "proof" of white superiority.

This is regrettable to make an understatement, but predictable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_United_States

Eventually, this led to the Binet-Simon test, which was intended to be used to determine the mentally disabled from the, well, mentally lazy.

Yet, we've come a long way since then. However, the Eugenicists and Racists have not given up their fight to place others beneath them.

For example: we now know much more about how brain physiology and chemistry plays roles in these types of situations, and also, we've developed near-miraculous treatments for some of these conditions.

However, we all wish to keep our privilege in society.

The racists and eugenicists will not let go of these concepts that these tests "prove" their superiority. And they then Lord their scores on a standardized test over others, is if it meant anything important.

The major issue in intelligence is training and discipline, not genes

So, I propose an alternate idea:

Intelligence is less a spectrum and more like a automobile. Hear me out:

Let's say my intellect can race like an F1 car. That's great, right until you need to haul some lumber to build a home. Then, I am useless, and we need a Truck.

I've met people with IQs of 80, but, when that ball starts rolling, they are rarely off of the mark.

I can talk all day about medieval literature, and the pre-Roman Celtic trade routes, but, if you need to re-wire your house, then, I am useless. Talk to someone else.

I trust you are beginning to see my point here; I have my skills, and you have yours. None of this means I am smarter than you. Certainly not a score on some standardized test.

I've met people on my time here on twitter who are simply wonderful. And I am glad to call my friends.

But who would not score nearly as high as me on these tests.

I am not bragging here, but let me tell you a funny story:

When I was 14, I was forced to take an intelligence test. It was called -I kid you not- "The Woodcock-Johnson Battery" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodcock%E2%80%93Johnson_Tests_of_Cognitive_Abilities

I know, I am laughing, too. I have been laughing at the name of the test since I was 14, OK? I'm in my 30s, and I am still laughing so hard I can barely type.

The test is graded at age-level, assuming the subject is fully educated.

So I would average a 14, as a 14 year old.

My average score was 21. Seven years ahead

And this was even as I was horribly distracted, still trying not to laugh because of "Woodcock-Jonhson Battery."

I mean come on. What do you expect?

Most tests bore me. I can score what you want. I reverse engineer the test on the fly

Again, I do not say this to brag. Rather, that it is imperative that we question the very notion of the so-called "IQ." Especially because it has been so misused by Eugenicists and Racists.

I am not "smarter" than you. Nor you smarter than me. We have our own skills.

I had another full mental-gauntlet test, and I asked the proctor, a PhD. with 30 years experience to remove all references to "IQ" from the report.

I am resolute in my rejection of IQ being a measure between individuals. And no one has ever yet questioned Sensei's resolve.

One part of the test, called "Deletion" which tested visual acuity and recognition, I scored the highest ever she'd seen, and was ranked as "Very Superior."

This does not mean that I am smarter than you. It simply means that my Martial Arts training has been effective.

And that I am capable of recognizing certain signs, and then reacting to them appropriately. This is a large part of what I do for a living, so, it should come as little surprise, now should it?

What I am trying to do, here, is simply question the nature of the IQ itself.

A bit of a warning, here: this video depicts a disabled person being abused by someone attempting to assess them. But, I think it is a spot-on, sardonic parody from @Miranda_July , from her album "The Binet-Simon Test"

And of course, July's choice of the "Binet-Simon Test" as the name of her album is no accident. It is about how institutions misunderstand the very concept of intelligence.

You cannot create a standardized test without creating an institution. Institutions are a system.

And systems kill people.

Yet, the right-wing is reliant on systems such as these. They cannot exist without them, as they lack the ability to think for themselves. I remember one neo-nazi who described Prof. Jarod Diamond to me as being "Low-IQ."

As Crass says:

"Movements are a system/
Systems kill/
Movements are expressions/
Of public will/"

I would like you to think about that in terms of the "IQ Test", and its various incarnations.

Anyway, my dear friends, I hope this thread finds you and your family well in these trying times.

Thank you for reading.
-Ryan