WHY PEOPLE KEEP MISUNDERSTANDING THE 'CONNECTION' BETWEEN RACE AND IQ

By: Brink Lindsey

Published: May 15, 2013; The Atlantic; www.theatlantic.com ; Alternatively, just google the title and author’s name

Level of Difficulty: **

Note to the student: An example of the writing task is available in the file marked Sample Essays

BEFORE YOU READ

·         What are the factors that determine IQ?

·         What influence is stronger in your view?

·         What variables influence IQ?

·         Does an IQ test provide reliable information about intelligence levels?

·         Do IQ tests provide information about factors other than IQ? If so, what?

NOW CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING

Race and Intelligence: Science's Last Taboo

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao8W2tPujeE

QUESTIONS

1.       What shocking declaration did Richwine make concerning IQ scores?

2.       What is the main idea of the article?

3.       What conclusions can we draw from the results of IQ tests?

4.       What conclusion can we draw from the information in paragraph five?

5.       The two French adoption studies prove that …………………….. has a serious influence on intelligence. There are three answers find all three.

6.       Turkheimer’s study showed that the ……………………………. the socioeconomic status, the …………………………………. the effect of genetic factors.

7.       What conclusion can we draw from this study?

8.       IQ tests will be very misleading if ……………………………………………………………………………………

9.       What is the main reason for the above?

10.   What is the point the writer is trying to make with the examples of the two IQ tests he suggests?

11.   The disadvantages that those from developing and underdeveloped countries face are that in their home countries……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

12.   The writer states that “The Flynn effect is acutely embarrassing”. How does he reach this conclusion?

13.   Richwine’s views are wrong because they presuppose a strong positive correlation between …………………………………………………………………..and………………………………………………………………………

14.   The lower IQ scores of Hispanics in USA indicate that ……………………………………………are comparatively lower.

15.   The article ends on a positive note because it states that ……………………………………………………..

WRITING TASK

Write a paragraph concerning the factors determining IQ scores and their implications

WHY PEOPLE KEEP MISUNDERSTANDING THE ‘CONNECTION’ BETWEEN RACE AND IQ KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES

This relatively simple text addresses a common prejudice: the relationship between race and IQ so it should be interesting to see if any of the students share this prejudice. The writer does go on to refute this view very successfully I must say leaving no one anything to say. In this respect, it is a good example of an argumentative text. There is a tidy little writing activity as well.

1. He attributed Hispanic’s alleged intellectual inferiority at least partly to genetic factors
2. Richwine’s position is intellectually as well as morally unsound
3. We can draw inferences about the test taker’s relative mastery of various skills, performance in the classroom, income, health and other important life outcomes
4. Innate mental ability exists
5. Upbringing, environment, environmental factors
6. Greater / greater; OR, lower / less
7. IQ scores reflect some varying combinations of differences in native ability and differences in opportunities
8. They are used to compare individuals of wildly different backgrounds
9. The cognitive skills that IQ tests assess are not used or valued to the same extent in all times and places
10. Intelligence is culturally contingent
11. The complexity of contemporary life is not evenly distributed and neither is the demand for written language fluency
12. In the US and many other countries, raw IQ scores have been rising (three points a decade); this rise is too rapid to have a genetic cause
13. The development of certain cognitive skills and raw mental ability
14. Their chances of achievement and success
15. Reducing achievement gaps will be possible…