Janissy wrote:
starygrrl wrote:
I don't see the test as unfair, but a method to understand society, an individual and as a diagnostic tool.
They help as a diagnostic tool in that you can't apply a label of mental retardation or giftedness without them, and subtest scatter is one of the hallmarks of autism. I'm not so sure they help in understanding an individual beyond giving a reason for the alienation of the stratospherically smart. But as a tool to understand society? I think that is where IQ tests have done incredible damage. They have been used to justify racial and ethnic discrimination- something that their inventor Alfred Binet warned against (he just wanted them to be used to sort children for the fledgling field of Special Ed). The idea that some groups are just smarter and that's just how it is...based on IQ tests....is I think a horribly damaging idea and one that really should be scrapped as soon as possible. The idea that IQ tests have anything to say about groups and society is one of the 20th century's most evil ideas (other evil ideas predate the 20th century).
While I don't necessarily disagree with you from a historical standpoint, what I was talking about was strictly from an analytical one. I agree as a tool it has been misused when you are talking about using it to justify discrimination. I stress the word misused. I think though it has been properly used in understanding society when you are talking about more benign and beneficial purposes in understanding societal relationships. For example it can be used to find out the impacts of poverty and hunger on development. In fact this has been used as a way to advocate for school lunch programs for poor families. Point being like any tool, it can be both misappropriated and result in beneficial outcomes. I know his intent may have been limited, and his concerns were justified, but that is not to say there has not been benefits as well.
30 Nov 2010, 3:40 pm
