Education and IQ

Freshmen in Texas Public schools this year, also known as the Class of 2011, are required to take and pass 4 years of Math and 4 years of Science in order to graduate. The 4 years of Math will be Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and one more class higher than Algebra II such as Pre-Calculus or Advanced Placement Statistics. The 4 years of Science will include Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and one other Science. The State Board of Education would like to see the course called Introduction to Physics and Chemistry (IPC) NOT count as a Science credit. For now, IPC does count.

All of this sounds like a great step forward for Public Schools. To the outside observer, 4 years of Math, Science, English and History seem to be reasonable expectations. They certainly should be required for anyone planning to attend, and be successful in, college. But do all students who attend Public High Schools plan to go to college? What about the students who are in High School to get a High School diploma and then plan to learn a trade? Honestly .... do they really need Physics? Do they really need Algebra II? If YOU had to take and pass Pre-Calculus in order to graduate from High School, would you have been able to do it?

As I stated in my previous Blog, approximately half of all Americans have a below average IQ. I suppose it is possible that Texas High schools do not follow this pattern, but I find it highly unlikely. Do we honestly believe that EVERYONE needs to be able to do Pre-Calculus?? Do we honestly believe that EVERYONE needs to be able to do Physics??

Do I sound elitist?

Okay ... maybe I do sound elitist. But this worries me greatly on many fronts. By expecting everyone to be able to pass a solid Pre-Calculus class, one of two things has to happen. Either a large number of students will fail and have to retake the class, possibly more than once, thus extending their stay in high school to more than 4 years or causing students to drop out before completing their credits .... or math teachers will have to lower the standards of the class in order for more students to be able to pass. If teachers lower the standards of the class, it is no longer a solid Pre-Calculus class.

There was a time when only students who were planning on going to college and majoring in engineering or architecture or mathematics or physics or medicine actually took 4 years of Math and 4 years of science. There are a large number of college degrees and life professions which require little or no Math background.

Meanwhile, people cannot balance a checkbook nor keep track of credit card debts nor reasonably figure out a household budget. But they WILL be able to identify an equation as being that of an Ellipse, or a Parabola, or a Hyperbola, or a Circle. Life skills, for sure.

Is High School now just College Prep? What happened to teaching life skills? What will happen to the people who simply cannot pass those 4 years of Math and Science and who end up dropping out? What happened to the over 40,000 students who did not graduate from Texas Public schools last year because they couldn't pass the TAKS test? Where are they now?

Is it not public education's job to educate THE PUBLIC? And approximately half the public has a below average IQ!! Where are the people with an 80 or 85 IQ supposed to go? What are they supposed to do? Are we lifting a High School diploma out of their reach? Don't we want these people to be viable members of society ... able to work and contribute to our system? I am not talking about people with below 70 IQ ... they qualify for Special Education. I am talking about people with between 70 and 100 IQ who are actually functioning at their IQ level. Good people, wonderful people, hard-working people .... look around you in a public place ... half the people you see qualify. They do not qualify for Special Ed in any way. Special Ed is either for people with a below 70 IQ or for people whose functioning IQ is more than one standard deviation below their actual IQ. ((Special ED is NOT what the general public thinks it is. Look it up.))

I am a retired Math teacher. I am now a Private Math Tutor. I expect my business to grow leaps and bounds as this year's freshmen move through their math courses. I also expect my frustrations to grow equally. I love Math ... and I would like all people to enjoy Math. I just don't think everyone needs to learn Pre-Calculus to get a High School diploma.

America and IQ ....

My husband recently read the following quote in The Wall Street Journal's online Opinion Journal ... "Actually, studies have shown that a near-majority of Americans have below-average intelligence. But maybe they'll be dumb enough to believe Biden's flattery."

You can read the context of the quote via the link above. It's not the part about Senator Biden, nor the part about the Democrat candidates not trusting the American people which bothers me. The part of that quote which I find bothersome is ... "studies have shown that a near-majority of Americans have below-average intelligence". Really?? Oh My!! This must be because of Public Education!! Something must be done! After all ... don't we all live in Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon where ... "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."?

I firmly believe that most Americans feel this way. And there will be a number of people who won't read beyond the 2nd paragraph above before they'll go on a rant about how awful public education is and how we must fight this "below-average IQ epidemic!" In fact, a number of you who are now reading these words are probably shocked by the the FACT that a near-majority of Americans have a Below-Average IQ.

I capitalized FACT because it is a fact .... and will always be a fact ... no matter what party sits in the White House ... No matter what public education does ... No matter what mandates come down from congress .... No matter what anyone says or does, there will always be a near-majority of below-average intelligence people in America. Of course, there will also be a near-majority of above-average intelligence people in America, too.

After all .... just what makes something "average"? Think about that.

Ever since my husband came home with that quote, I have been tossing it at friends and family and acquaintances to check their reactions. All of them have been shocked. It seems that we truly do expect most Americans to be smarter than average. We can't imagine that fully 1/2 of our great country has a below-average IQ. But it is true.

I have also noticed that I have started paying attention to my interactions with people and mentally placing these people on the IQ Bell Curve in my mind. The results have been a bit depressing. Of course, myself, and my husband, and most of our friends are on the right side of the Bell Curve ... but during the Christmas shopping season, I encountered a large number of people whom I felt would test in on the left-hand side of the curve. I also encounter these people on the roads around Dallas-Ft.Worth, and often in the Editorial sections of the Dallas Morning News ... (but only if their opinions are different from mine.)

Where do YOU fit on the curve? Do you have any idea? There are a number of IQ tests available online, some serious, some just for fun. Since you are probably reading this BLOG online, go ahead and run a search for IQ Tests and take one yourself. Make sure you have lots of time as a good IQ Test might take an hour or more to do.

Instead of writing a big long article about IQ and its implications in our lives, I am going to write a series of shorter BLOGS with my thoughts and some research into IQ and Education policies, IQ and Racism, IQ and its competitor, EQ ... and anything else I come up with.

If you have any thoughts, please feel free to comment!

Lucinda Mackinnon is a retired Math teacher and current Owner and Chief Tutor of Math-Matters.