In a message dated 12/7/03 12:40:04 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

>Your story does have a certain plausibility.  But you'd need to argue that
>the huge increase in IQ that has been documented during this last century
>isn't really an increase in intelligence.  And doing that makes it harder
>to take Jewish IQ as relevant data.

American Jews tested below average on Army intelligence tests conducted
around the turn of the last century (1900), and a century later American Jews test
substantially above the average.  Were the Jews who fled the Nazis so much
smarter than the Jews who came before that their small numbers could raise our
average from below to well above the national average?  Or has the national
average fallen because of the crumbling public education system or the influx of
(name the disfavored immigrant group of your choice).

I do wonder about the meaning of IQ tests. I test out in the top 1% of the IQ
distribution but have been singularly unsuccessful.  Although it's anedotal,
I know many other unsuccesful high IQ people as well.  Clearly high IQ and
success don't automatically go hand in hand.

David Levenstam

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