Posted on 05/23/2013 5:19:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A new study may stimulate the old adage of respecting your elders; it says the general level of intelligence in the Western Hemisphere has declined since the Victorian Era. The study claims the IQ numbers are 14 points lower than from the 19th century.
One of the authors of the study, Dr. Jan te Nijenhuis, professor of work and organizational psychology at the University of Amsterdam, says the cause of the movement toward stupidity is that smarter women have fewer children while those of lower intelligence have more children.
But Dr. Gerald Crabtree, professor of pathology and developmental biology at Stanford University, disagreed. He stated:
The reduction in human intelligence (if there is any reduction) would have begun at the time that genetic selection became more relaxed. I projected this occurred as our ancestors began to live in more supportive high density societies (cities) and had access to a steady supply of food. Both of these might have resulted from the invention of agriculture, which occurred about 5,000 to 12,000 years ago.
The study examined results of 14 intelligence studies conducted between 1884 to 2004 that measured participants' so-called visual reaction times....
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
That’s true, but I also think we are suffering from a kind of “information overload” these days. The sum total of Human knowledge has expanded (and continues to expand) at an exponential rate, and in response educators have pretty much given up on teaching facts. The emphasis now is on knowing how to acquire facts, rather than knowing the facts themselves. I can kind of see where they are coming from, but at the same time I do believe they have gone too far along that route. Kids really do need to have certain details at their fingertips, even today.
“Western Civilization Dumber Than 100 Years Ago”....
And WHO is really surprised at this? We may have lots of new technology, inovations etc., but the one MAJOR thing that is NOT being taught is plain old common sense. Without that critical element, society will continue to remain “Dumber that 100 years ago”.
Because large rafts of education is now under the control of the state, its provision and effectiveness become a valid political point. Now, no elected official is going to want to lay themselves open to a charge of "letting the kids down" by poor education, so there is a built in bias to see "improvements", in financial provision, attendence, and (especially) exam results.
Now, theres only three ways exam results can continously improve. Either 1) children are getting smarter, or 2)Schools are getting better at teaching or 3) the exams are getting easier. Care to place a bet on which one it is? Hint, the last option is by far the easiest and cheapest to do.
option 4 - teaching to the test.
Thanks man. I’ll be on the lookout in July. I wonder if we’ll get two three-time winners this year.
Heh, I have always been of the opinion that much of the overload has to do with what gown Kim Kardashian wore at the awards ceremony last night on ABC or the “funny” line from “The New Normal”, rather than what is natural law,how do humans fit into it, and what are the ramifications of that on our daily lives?
I suspect there are large swaths of people who could name the last five winners of American Idol, what they are doing now and where they live, but would say “Natural Law? What is that?”
Of course, Jedidiah Woodman might have said the same thing from beind his plow in 1762 in Groton, Massachusetts, but it is just as possible he might have an opinion on the basis of something his clergyman said in the sermon last Sunday.
But I know what you mean...
Josh Bridges from SoCal might actually give Froning a run for his money this year, but, likely, he’s overhyped like Ben Smith and Dan Bailey were last year.
For the women...no clue. Annie T. hurt her back and she wasn’t able to finish the Open or compete in the Regionals. CFHQ can still invite her to the Games. In fact, they did that with Kristin Clever who placed fourth in SoCal last weekend after hurting her shoulder in the 3RM Overhead Squat event. She still pushed through, but didn’t make the cutoff. Given her status as a past champion, HQ invited her to the Games anyway. If Annie is healthy, I’ve no doubt that she’ll get the same invitation. If she doesn’t then that combined with Julie Foucher not competing this year will leave the female side of the house wide open for a new champion.
I didn’t know Annie hurt herself, that sucks. I like her, as she seems to have a great attitude. Hopefully the competition is close so it’s more exciting.
Me too, but that's what happens when we look at all the morons on this thread.
When we look at the world we see increased literacy rates and higher education levels. The article's a crock, based on a study from (are you ready?) the Huffington Post. Aside from the fact the 19th century was two hundred -not one hundred- years ago (for the math challenged on the thread) let's check out the nut of the entire rant:
"women of high intelligence tend to have fewer children".
My question is, if they're so smart how come they're incapable of accomplishing the most basic and most necessary of all human needs? Makes me wonder of these so-called 'high intelligence" babes are unable to feed themselves too.
Devo is playing in Tucson tonight. Just sayin.
The part regarding examinations. Like I said - we were taught and trained how to do with just pencil and a pad, and we did our labs that way.
First lab we had - we had to do statistical analysis, and we had an extremely long list of calculations to do in class. About 3x as many as were possible to do in the time given. They had to be precisely right.
My professor said at the end of the class that you had to get so many questions done and if you didn’t get enough, you were advised not to pursue the program!
No calculators or anything. My math classes were the same.
I can speak for other places - but that’s what we did.
Oh yes...I forgot about that one. Its kind of allied to the last point, and is a function of political control. The demand for results leads to an over-emphasis on passing exams, to the detriment of the actual imparting of both knowledge and wisdom. Its reached the point today where schools no longer teach math, history or geography, they teach how to pass exams.
jumping through hoops.
Watching South Central Team WOD: CrossFit Strong’s team, male and female, are wearing “Obama Can’t Ban These Guns” shirts!
Sweet!
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