From: Clay Olbon II <olbon@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 1996 06:41:02 -0800 (PST)
To: "Lurker" <lurker@mail.tcbi.com>
Subject: Re: IQ and age
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19961128143859.00703224@popd.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Have we had an influx of fuzzy-thinking liberals lately?  Not that this is a
bad thing, it is hard to argue with people who agree with you on everything :-)

At 06:49 AM 11/28/96 -0600, Lurker wrote:
>>I would.  If you look at who has the oppertunities to go college you will
>note that those who are good at taking tests (SAT, ACT, or IQ) are those
>who get to go.  You will also note that money also breeds success, or can
>someone give me an argument for the fact that there are more rich kids
>going to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and the like than poor kids. (These
>schools almost gaurentee success.)

The ability to spell helps to gaurentee success as well.  Seriously, you
ignore the correlation between performance in college and standardized test
scores.  There is a reason these are used in admissions - they are actually
pretty good predictors of the ability to perform college level work.

>If you want to find a correlation look for it in money not tests.  And if
>you are insistant on finding it in tests, ask why the scores are as they
>are (was the test written to the advantage of one group over another or can
>one group buy the "A" with special courses which teach the skills needed to
>score high.)

Oh, I forgot.  Only certain racial/ethnic groups are capable of
understanding basic mathematical concepts.  Of course, caucasians are one of
these groups (since they consistently are outperformed by immigrants from
other countries).  

I know it makes you feel good to believe that all that is wrong is caused by
conspiracies led by the EVIL RICH in this country.  I happen to feel better
believing in the potential for any individual in this country to succeed
through hard work.

        Clay
*******************************************************
Clay Olbon			    olbon@ix.netcom.com
engineer, programmer, statistitian, etc.
**********************************************tanstaafl