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Cognitive abilities of 11-years-olds are up to three years behind where they were in 1975.

uk.news.yahoo.com

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Re: Cognitive abilities of 11-years-olds are up to three years behind where they were in 1975.

#11

Post by rms »

helveticaman wrote: post #8

Does this take into account immigration to England? If not, it's as worthless as studies saying American students aren't on a par with students abroad. The question is, which American students we're talking about: the black ones or the white ones? The distribution of IQ among white students is on a par with that of other white kids in other places. The distribution of IQ among black students is less favorable. (This…

Regarding the downmodding... discussing biological differences in the races is one of those Things You Can't Say (http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html). It's been discussed here before and it never goes anywhere. I would recommend letting it go.

I am inclined to agree with you that this study is just as worthless as the ones comparing American students to foreign ones, but for different reasons. It's just about what is being tested -- kids may do worse on some measures, but on average, in the age of Google, everyone is a great deal smarter than 30 years ago.

Re: Cognitive abilities of 11-years-olds are up to three years behind where they were in 1975.

#13

Post by known »

helveticaman wrote: post #8

Does this take into account immigration to England? If not, it's as worthless as studies saying American students aren't on a par with students abroad. The question is, which American students we're talking about: the black ones or the white ones? The distribution of IQ among white students is on a par with that of other white kids in other places. The distribution of IQ among black students is less favorable. (This…

Love and affection boosts a child's IQ level

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/dec/21iq.htm

Re: Cognitive abilities of 11-years-olds are up to three years behind where they were in 1975.

#17

Post by dgabriel »

rms wrote: post #11
helveticaman wrote: post #8

Does this take into account immigration to England? If not, it's as worthless as studies saying American students aren't on a par with students abroad. The question is, which American students we're talking about: the black ones or the white ones? The distribution of IQ among white students is on a par with that of other white kids in other places. The distribution of IQ among black students is less favorable. (This…

Regarding the downmodding... discussing biological differences in the races is one of those Things You Can't Say ( http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html ). It's been discussed here before and it never goes anywhere. I would recommend letting it go. I am inclined to agree with you that this study is just as worthless as the ones comparing American students to foreign ones, but for different reasons. It's just about what…

You can discuss biological differences, but you have to do it carefully and extremely intelligently. Eugenics have been used by bad and tremendously ignorant people to do terrible things, and people are rightfully wary about entering the "biological difference between races," territory.

In any case, we're talking about the exceptional students, so racial averages are irrelevant to the conversation.

Re: Cognitive abilities of 11-years-olds are up to three years behind where they were in 1975.

#18

Post by dgabriel »

Do gifted children have the same resources today that they did 33 years ago? Not that I think children with developmental needs should be shortchanged, it is a tragedy that gifted and talented programs have fallen out of style.

But then again, when I was in middle school, a parent sued the school district because their kid didn't get int the G&T program, so they shut down the whole thing.

Re: Cognitive abilities of 11-years-olds are up to three years behind where they were in 1975.

#19

Post by nihilocrat »

helveticaman wrote: post #8

Does this take into account immigration to England? If not, it's as worthless as studies saying American students aren't on a par with students abroad. The question is, which American students we're talking about: the black ones or the white ones? The distribution of IQ among white students is on a par with that of other white kids in other places. The distribution of IQ among black students is less favorable. (This…

I would argue that lots of white/black differences in America are actually due to distinct differences in the environment people of both groups were raised in. The only factor that makes it racial is the fact that in America, there are very clear and distinct subcultures that seperate whites and blacks if they so choose to be a part of those subcultures, and the socioeconomic properties / scoring on tests of their members are probably more indicative of the subculture's values rather than the quality of their genes.

Re: Cognitive abilities of 11-years-olds are up to three years behind where they were in 1975.

#20

Post by [deleted] »

vaksel wrote: post #7

well part of it, is we don't need to rely on our brain as much any more. When my parents were in school you had to do complicated math in your head. Nowadays you get a calculator. Same for spelling, in 1975 you needed to be a walking dictionary. Nowadays we have spell checker. As far as kids are concerned, a lot more of their time is now "wasted" on TV and video games.

[deleted]
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