WHO DOES THIS FOOL THINK HE IS?

abre les ojos · Guru

WHO DOES THIS FOOL THINK HE IS?

Ayatollah · Senior Member

Ladies and Gents, it would be interesting for us to understand the context and conditions under which the study was conducted. It is common knowledge that living a life of priviledge positively contributes to people's success. Even in Malawi, when you look at the statistics of people that do well and go on to the Universities, middle class to upper class people seem to be at some sort of advantage.

It is not a secret that Malnutrition and disease impact a person ability to reach their full potential in terms of intelligence. Yes, there is no doubt that Africa is home of most the illiterate people in this world. However it's unfair to expect or even compare a person who survives on one meal to have the same abilities as a person who has more than three meals a day. Sometimes conditions dictate our destiny. Without a doubt, most Africans are living in an environment with rampant disease and absolute poverty. Not to use this as an excuse, and without any sugar coating, most of our brothers and sisters are living under conditions that are dire at best.

My take is that when making such comparisons, it's best to have a large sample size and compare IQ's of individuals who enjoy the same social status. It is not a secret that some of the brightest people happen to be Africans. During the time when I was studying in London, the most respected acadeem with so many accollades under his belt was an African from Nigeria. However it is simply wrong for anyone to presume that one race or color skin is smarter than the other.

abre les ojos · Guru

I agree to an extent.

Strictly speaking IQ tests are hardly scientific. When you create a test with the presumption of intelligence as a result then whatever you get WOULD be flawed. If you placed someone with a high IQ from Harvard in an Aborigine environment, he'll die simply because his intelligence is useless to him there. The native however would use his intelligence to survive and even thrive.

So the test of IQs is a system already skewed as this so-called intelligence is not applicable in every circumstance. What is considered intelligence in the west is rubbish elsewhere on the plains of Africa or Australia or the bushes of Papau.

Having said that I think wealth can bring opportunity and not exactly intelligence. I mean look at the Paris Hiltons of the world.

awmygawd · Guru

You're both right. Either way, inherent intelligence measurement should factor out external influences and be performed with context in mind.

abuhakim · Senior Member

The guy is no fool and is right about everything, but did not bother to say that the Western countries have undermined us with our low IQs by stealing our income sources which could have made it possible for us to get better education. Maybe Bingu wasn’t wrong for making harsh prices of Tobacco for these folks. I wouldn’t blame this guy for diarrhoea being one of the major causes of infant deaths in Africa while a teaspoon of Sugar and a pinch of Salt is a remedy to this fatal disease. We Africans can’t think and make discoveries for ourselves due to lack of high and quality education, even though some of the members on this forum always claim that they have got high IQs. How about saying that to Kanazawa?

Abuhakim Mchawa

bingiza · Guru

This finding definetely has a basis he isnt just blubbering from the blues, but the question i may ask is what and where did he get his samples from am sure not from some members of this forum i know he would have gotten a hiding and he would have forgoten all about it. But i assume he went to refferences that had no bearing on his research (happens all the time).

He has a right to express his opinion but as this forum does so often to "agree to disagree" the sentiments posted are the same i know what i can or cannot do.

I remember at Phwezi a mzungu teacher Mr jays and one the late Dr Paul Mwayipaya both scholars in their own accolades but guys on this forum from Phwezi can agree that Jays IQ was way below that of Mwayipaya and whatever this Mwayipaya guy used to teach us was considered rebeliuos and was properly despatched by those we had considered great minds of Malawi ranging from Chakufwa Chihana,Dennis Nkhwazi to Chipimpha Mughogho under the pretext of fear of poisoning our young minds.

game · Guru

my fellow malawianas,this is what a friend of mine said about IQ tests,please try to relate.

The transition of society into a knowledge-based one has created new opportunities for the intelligent. Selection of right people has become a challenge to institutions and organizations looking for such personnel. IQ score is considered to be indicative of a person’s mental abilities. What started as an exercise to identify children with lower intelligence so as to provide them with special education programs has now become a recognized testing model for adults too. An IQ test evaluates various skills such as spatial, logical reasoning, general knowledge levels, pattern recognition and classification skills. The IQ test scores are accepted to be reliable indicators of general cognitive ability and consequently intellectual potential.

What is IQ?

Intelligence of a person is difficult to define. Hence IQ scores are generally considered to be an objective measure in determining an individual’s intelligence. Intelligent Quotient or IQ is a number or score determined by a person’s performance in a set of tests specially developed and standardized for this purpose. It is found that 50% of the population normally has IQ ranging from 90 to 110 whereas 25% fall in the higher IQ group and 25% in the lower IQ group.

History of IQ tests

In the 19th century, British scientist Sir Frances Galton was one of the pioneers in investigating the differences in mental capabilities of individuals. This was followed by several studies that revealed that intelligence of a person had a definite role to play in his or her academic success. One of his students, James McKeen Cattell first took the idea of intelligence testing to America. Asked by the French government, in 1905 Alfred Binet a French psychologist and his colleague Theodore Simon developed a test to help identify those children who had difficulty in learning. These tests based on memory, reasoning, vocabulary and problem solving were found to be better to determine a child’s intelligence than those of Galton.

now,considering all said,i think africans because of their poor success stories are often looked down on,historically we are the first civillised people to walk the earth,the architect of the pentagon is from egypt,the first archaological digs were done in africa,we were the first people to live in communities way back before whites started sailing the oceans looking for wealth,the stone age period,when richard leakey dug the dzinjanthropus he discovered his IQ was more than 150 which was what einsten is famous for.

-- Edited by game at 13:21, 2006-11-06