Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ecc]

Last week ,a friend of mine recommended me a book ,entitled The Bell Curve :Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life ..This book offers an interesting but controversial viewpoint :people are not created equal in intelligence ,therefore they tend to behave different in study and on their job according to their intelligence level .Generally speaking ,the Whites always score higher than the Blacks and Latintos on tests and as a result Whites always get higher social status and living standards. It is worth mentioning that all the conclusions are based on concrete experiments and plenty of data .Of course ,some people support the theses and think the book merits considering, but others .call it bad science and racism .In some sense ,I fell what the authors said are somewhat right .It seems that intelligence can be heritable and plays an important part in our daily life. As far as I am concerned ,sometimes I cannot do things as well as others do despite my tremendous efforts .Maybe that is simply because they are more talented ?what is your opinion ?

[obelix]

I think the studies you are referring to also say that the ones who do best are Asians?
Obviously some of us are born with a quicker mind than others. I have a friend who is barely literate but who is absolutely brilliant at repairing and understanding the principles behind all kinds of machinery. On the other hand my father, who was a very clever scholar could not change the washer on a dripping faucet.
I myself am good at languages, including computer languages and I can fix machinery if I have the workshop manual but not intuitively, as my friend does.
Perhaps the problem here is the way we assess intelligence and the way we use what intelligence we have.
Taking it further, you might also query what we mean by success or winning and losing.

[Corey]

Yes, it would seem correct to first define what one means by intelligence and I don't think the IQ test does the job.

My $0.02 - the genetic arguement is garbage. Environment is by far the most important factor in terms of mental development.

Corey
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[Openmind]

I think intelligence has nothing to do with your genes. Put an African baby into a white family and let it grow up in that environment. There won't be any differences in that child's intelligence, behaviour, vocabulary, accent, habits, body language etc. There have been people who tried to convince us that intelligence depends on your genes and you probably remember the results.
Also, intelligence has to be defined - a smart person who is great at mathematics, holds a University degree isn't necessarily very successful. As a matter of fact, based on my own experience I think it's much more important to be able to listen to the other person, have goals and self-discipline, be honest and have a good sense of humour. Your attitude towards life is ten times more important than your IQ and your university degree worth only as much as you can apply your knowledge in practical situations. There are so many examples of successful people who never attended any university.