As Utopian as Ian suggests, there are some good points and I think it extends way beyond the academic realm. Reward as it seems, thrives in the financial markets where a 100 million dollar annual to a ceo is looked upon as highly successful, a great achievement and an incentive for everyone else to compete. On the other hand there isn't any real incentive to reduce interest rates to create affordable mortgage. If the rates were cut in half tomorrow there would still be billions in profit for financial institutions and millions available for salary and bonus. Why are families spending nearly half a million 'out of pocket' cash to buy a house when executive salaries and bonuses are adding up to billions? So what good is IQ without a just and equitable perspective? It seems that higher IQ's and competition are pushing many down into lower living standards. As far as the IQ race issue and Allan's observation it should be noted that when individuals converge into a group, regardless of academic levels, each individual will initially enter on common ground, the common identity center from which each can slowly reveal the self without fear of becoming an outcast. This also holds true for mixed race groups. White kids raised in predominantly poor black neighborhoods very often display black mannerisms, speech and body language, which is part of a survival mechanism. I've often found myself amidst a group of surly morons and purposely avoided any indication that I had a brain, in a way it's 'when in Rome do as the Romans'. Personally I think IQ isn't worth squat if you don't know what to do with it, the prisons are full of genius types. I would have to say that I lean more towards your view than that if Ian's in that if we can't the other side of winning than the rewards of winning are meaningless.
On Oct 28, 7:56 am, Pat <[email protected]> wrote: > On 27 Oct, 23:09, archytas <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > That's more or less what I feel on this Lon. I found school really > > easy - though hated most of it off the sports field. I'm broadly sick > > of how we reward people and what this encourages. I think most of us > > could grok most of what is important if education and propaganda > > didn't mystify it for the sake of grading us. I'm not out to make us > > all equal in the sense of the same or uniform but I am wondering about > > why we allow such massive differences. I suspect this IQ (EQ or Ei) > > stuff is a typical part of the excuses given to us about a tiny number > > hogging resources. I have to say I think most people like stuff I > > can't stand - soap operas, pop music, romantic and detective fiction > > and upper-class bullshit alternatives - and have destroyed a lot I did > > like (sport before commercialisation) and this makes me suspect they > > are not very intelligent or reasonable - but I suspect this is more > > cultural than genetic. If we are generally so dumb that burning the > > planet and Hollywood are what we really want well fair enough, let's > > just wait for the war. Otherwise, we might want to work out we have > > schools all wrong. > > Of course we have schools all wrong. We encourage children to > compete against one another--to score better on tests than their > peers, to excel at sports over their their peers and teach them that > the only way THEY will do well is if they can continue to beat > everyone else 'out there' in the real world. So, when they grow up, > they beat each other, kill each other, etc. Is there anything really > surprising in that process? I don't think so. The 'fault' is that, > competition is great if your population is generally small, but > humanity isn't anymore. We need to cooperate and coordinate our > efforts. BUT, in order to do that, we must find out what each > individual can do that no one ELSE can. THAT is what makes us unique, > and schools don't really encourage students (at about age 7-8, when > they should start thinking about such things) to discover themselves. > Rather, we teach them rote materials which may or may not be > particularly helpful to them AS individuals. > The reason we are all different is because we all have something > unique to offer to the world, hence our existence. Education needs to > encourage, at the earliest point possible, students to discover their > strengths and weaknesses and, THEN, develop their individual strengths > (it would be handy to work on strengthening their weaknesses, but that > isn't as important as developing their strengths!!). At the same > time, they need to be involved in group tests rather than individual > 'exams' that utilise the strengths of EACH of the students and > demonstrate to them empirically that their uniqueness is what makes > them valuable--and that has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with > competition. At this point in human development, competition and > anything that encourages us towards that, will do nothing but keep us > as cavemen and/or reduce us back TO them. > In other words, it's time for an education paradigm shift that > realises that our differences ARE our strengths and that we need to > work together in order to get the best for all of us. Sound > reasonable? > > > On 27 Oct, 21:19, Lonlaz <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I like to seek out the hard questions, and the one you bring to light > > > is that it may be true that some groups of people on average are not > > > intelligent enough in the 'right' way to succeed in modern society. > > > It is a hard thing to contemplate for those who have been > > > indoctronated from birth that each one of us has unlimited potential. > > > > Of course, this depends entirely on your definition of success. > > > Should a 'burger-flipper' be less honored than a physicist. A good > > > burger had much more impact on my day than many of the scientific > > > discovories of the day. In the US, day care workers are near to the > > > bottom of the barrel, status-wise. These are people who we trust to > > > take care of our children. It may not need the same kind of mind that > > > can write computer software, but it's a pretty damned important job.- > > > Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
