Saturday, November 22, 2014

Futile Efforts

HBDchick links to this article by Charles Murray. Our Futile Efforts To Boost Children's IQ. I also would like to take more credit for my children turning out well.

3 comments:

james said...

Well, there's a difference between boosting IQ and in training children in virtues that let them use their gifts well. (Though I notice they sometimes throw off the traces. "Train up a child" seems to be a general and not an absolute promise.)

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Yes, and I think our focus should shift in that direction. IQ is not worth much in isolation. Its value is how much it enhances other strengths.

I should write about that...

Texan99 said...

Yes, it's clear people can be trained to think more or less clearly with whatever horsepower they've got. I tend to be pretty persuaded by Murray's statistical analysis of (1) the importance of IQ to a number of life outcomes and (2) the resistance of IQ to fiddling. Is IQ everything? Obviously not, but it's not trivial, either.