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Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:27:51 +0900 |
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Todd Moody wrote:
> As for falling standards, there are paradoxical data. In terms
> of absolute performance, IQ test scores are today a full standard
> deviation higher than they were 40 or 50 years ago. The tests
> have had to be renormed for that reason. The raw score that
> would have gotten you an IQ of 100 in 1950 would get you an 85
> today. This is a rather substantial improvement. On the other
> hand, SAT scores have fallen, to where they have had to be
> renormed (especially the verbal scores) in the other direction.
Those tests are quackery, if you ask me. There is no way
people today are a standard deviation smarter than 100 years
ago. Pick up any newspaper aimed at the lower classes 100
years ago, when literacy in the US was 98% for native born
Americans. Compare the vocabulary and level of analysis. It
is higher than high-brow papers today. Something else is
happening, perhaps kids today are just better trained at
test taking.
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