Is the U.S. Education System Producing a Society of ?Smart Fools?? - GoFuckYourself.com

wehateporn · 06-02-2017, 09:41 AM

One distinguished psychologist explains why he believes this is so and how to reverse course

BOSTON?At last weekend?s annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) in Boston, Cornell University psychologist Robert Sternberg sounded an alarm about the influence of standardized tests on American society. Sternberg, who has studied intelligence and intelligence testing for decades, is well known for his ?triarchic theory of intelligence,? which identifies three kinds of smarts: the analytic type reflected in IQ scores; practical intelligence, which is more relevant for real-life problem solving; and creativity. Sternberg offered his views in a lecture associated with receiving a William James Fellow Award from the APS for his lifetime contributions to psychology. He explained his concerns to Scientific American.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

In your talk, you said that IQ tests and college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT are essentially selecting and rewarding ?smart fools??people who have a certain kind of intelligence but not the kind that can help our society make progress against our biggest challenges. What are these tests getting wrong?
Tests like the SAT, ACT, the GRE?what I call the alphabet tests?are reasonably good measures of academic kinds of knowledge, plus general intelligence and related skills. They are highly correlated with IQ tests and they predict a lot of things in life: academic performance to some extent, salary, level of job you will reach to a minor extent?but they are very limited. What I suggested in my talk today is that they may actually be hurting us. Our overemphasis on narrow academic skills?the kinds that get you high grades in school?can be a bad thing for several reasons. You end up with people who are good at taking tests and fiddling with phones and computers, and those are good skills but they are not tantamount to the skills we need to make the world a better place.

What evidence do you see of this harm?
IQ rose 30 points in the 20th century around the world, and in the U.S. that increase is continuing. That?s huge; that?s two standard deviations, which is like the difference between an average IQ of 100 and a gifted IQ of 130. We should be happy about this but the question I ask is: If you look at the problems we have in the world today?climate change, income disparities in this country that probably rival or exceed those of the gilded age, pollution, violence, a political situation that many of us never could have imaged?one wonders, what about all those IQ points? Why aren?t they helping?

What I argue is that intelligence that?s not modulated and moderated by creativity, common sense and wisdom is not such a positive thing to have. What it leads to is people who are very good at advancing themselves, often at other people?s expense. We may not just be selecting the wrong people, we may be developing an incomplete set of skills?and we need to look at things that will make the world a better place.

Do we know how to cultivate wisdom?
Yes we do. A whole bunch of my colleagues and I study wisdom. Wisdom is about using your abilities and knowledge not just for your own selfish ends and for people like you. It?s about using them to help achieve a common good by balancing your own interests with other people?s and with high-order interests through the infusion of positive ethical values.

You know, it?s easy to think of smart people but it?s really hard to think of wise people. I think a reason is that we don?t try to develop wisdom in our schools. And we don?t test for it, so there?s no incentive for schools to pay attention.

Continued https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...t-fools-rdquo/

crockett · 06-02-2017, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wehateporn

One distinguished psychologist explains why he believes this is so and how to reverse course

BOSTON—At last weekend’s annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) in Boston, Cornell University psychologist Robert Sternberg sounded an alarm about the influence of standardized tests on American society. Sternberg, who has studied intelligence and intelligence testing for decades, is well known for his “triarchic theory of intelligence,” which identifies three kinds of smarts: the analytic type reflected in IQ scores; practical intelligence, which is more relevant for real-life problem solving; and creativity. Sternberg offered his views in a lecture associated with receiving a William James Fellow Award from the APS for his lifetime contributions to psychology. He explained his concerns to Scientific American.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

In your talk, you said that IQ tests and college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT are essentially selecting and rewarding “smart fools”—people who have a certain kind of intelligence but not the kind that can help our society make progress against our biggest challenges. What are these tests getting wrong?
Tests like the SAT, ACT, the GRE—what I call the alphabet tests—are reasonably good measures of academic kinds of knowledge, plus general intelligence and related skills. They are highly correlated with IQ tests and they predict a lot of things in life: academic performance to some extent, salary, level of job you will reach to a minor extent—but they are very limited. What I suggested in my talk today is that they may actually be hurting us. Our overemphasis on narrow academic skills—the kinds that get you high grades in school—can be a bad thing for several reasons. You end up with people who are good at taking tests and fiddling with phones and computers, and those are good skills but they are not tantamount to the skills we need to make the world a better place.

What evidence do you see of this harm?
IQ rose 30 points in the 20th century around the world, and in the U.S. that increase is continuing. That’s huge; that’s two standard deviations, which is like the difference between an average IQ of 100 and a gifted IQ of 130. We should be happy about this but the question I ask is: If you look at the problems we have in the world today—climate change, income disparities in this country that probably rival or exceed those of the gilded age, pollution, violence, a political situation that many of us never could have imaged—one wonders, what about all those IQ points? Why aren’t they helping?

What I argue is that intelligence that’s not modulated and moderated by creativity, common sense and wisdom is not such a positive thing to have. What it leads to is people who are very good at advancing themselves, often at other people’s expense. We may not just be selecting the wrong people, we may be developing an incomplete set of skills—and we need to look at things that will make the world a better place.

Do we know how to cultivate wisdom?
Yes we do. A whole bunch of my colleagues and I study wisdom. Wisdom is about using your abilities and knowledge not just for your own selfish ends and for people like you. It’s about using them to help achieve a common good by balancing your own interests with other people’s and with high-order interests through the infusion of positive ethical values.

You know, it’s easy to think of smart people but it’s really hard to think of wise people. I think a reason is that we don’t try to develop wisdom in our schools. And we don’t test for it, so there’s no incentive for schools to pay attention.

Continued https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...t-fools-rdquo/

You can thank George Bush for the "no child left behind" nonsense.. Republicans pushed the idiotic idea that passing tests equals being educated. Now we see it's fruits a bunch of fucking idiots with zero critical thinking ability, exactly what they wanted.. That's why he tied school funding to things like SAT performance.. Teachers all said it was a bad idea and now look you right wing nimrods want to blame liberals for your fuck ups..

wehateporn · 06-02-2017, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crockett

You can thank George Bush for the "no child left behind" nonsense.. Republicans pushed the idiotic idea that passing tests equals being educated. Now we see it's fruits a bunch of fucking idiots with zero critical thinking ability, exactly what they wanted.. That's why he tied school funding to things like SAT performance.. Teachers all said it was a bad idea and now look you right wing nimrods want to blame liberals for your fuck ups..

The US system is producing individuals who see every issue as Republicans V Democrats

PR_Glen · 06-02-2017, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crockett

You can thank George Bush for the "no child left behind" nonsense.. Republicans pushed the idiotic idea that passing tests equals being educated. Now we see it's fruits a bunch of fucking idiots with zero critical thinking ability, exactly what they wanted.. That's why he tied school funding to things like SAT performance.. Teachers all said it was a bad idea and now look you right wing nimrods want to blame liberals for your fuck ups..

It's something that has been developing for decades. How can you possibly cherry pick it as something that only one party has created? You need to take a step back and rethink how you view things lately, your partisan obsession is making you extremely irrational.

This is not a US issue alone either. We have the same problem in Canadian schools as well. Masses of kids being pushed through the systems as fast as possible and nothing of value being learned in the process.

Bladewire · 06-02-2017, 10:45 AM

Oh look another WeHateAmerica thread by WeHatePorn.

The antiAmerican shill is bitching about our school system, something he's never experienced. A Russian bitching about the USA school system is as stupid as an American bitching about the Russian system.

But this isn't really about the American school system, it's about WeHateAmerica working the fissures in American culture to divide Americans.

Don't forget that 👍🏼😉

beerptrol · 06-02-2017, 11:05 AM

Just fools which aren't hard to spot, look in the mirror op

onwebcam · 06-02-2017, 05:03 PM

He believes in climate change so put him in the fool pool as well.

06-02-2017, 09:41 AM	#1
wehateporn Promoting Debate on GFY Industry Role: Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 27,173	Is the U.S. Education System Producing a Society of ?Smart Fools?? One distinguished psychologist explains why he believes this is so and how to reverse course BOSTON?At last weekend?s annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) in Boston, Cornell University psychologist Robert Sternberg sounded an alarm about the influence of standardized tests on American society. Sternberg, who has studied intelligence and intelligence testing for decades, is well known for his ?triarchic theory of intelligence,? which identifies three kinds of smarts: the analytic type reflected in IQ scores; practical intelligence, which is more relevant for real-life problem solving; and creativity. Sternberg offered his views in a lecture associated with receiving a William James Fellow Award from the APS for his lifetime contributions to psychology. He explained his concerns to Scientific American. [An edited transcript of the interview follows.] In your talk, you said that IQ tests and college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT are essentially selecting and rewarding ?smart fools??people who have a certain kind of intelligence but not the kind that can help our society make progress against our biggest challenges. What are these tests getting wrong? Tests like the SAT, ACT, the GRE?what I call the alphabet tests?are reasonably good measures of academic kinds of knowledge, plus general intelligence and related skills. They are highly correlated with IQ tests and they predict a lot of things in life: academic performance to some extent, salary, level of job you will reach to a minor extent?but they are very limited. What I suggested in my talk today is that they may actually be hurting us. Our overemphasis on narrow academic skills?the kinds that get you high grades in school?can be a bad thing for several reasons. You end up with people who are good at taking tests and fiddling with phones and computers, and those are good skills but they are not tantamount to the skills we need to make the world a better place. What evidence do you see of this harm? IQ rose 30 points in the 20th century around the world, and in the U.S. that increase is continuing. That?s huge; that?s two standard deviations, which is like the difference between an average IQ of 100 and a gifted IQ of 130. We should be happy about this but the question I ask is: If you look at the problems we have in the world today?climate change, income disparities in this country that probably rival or exceed those of the gilded age, pollution, violence, a political situation that many of us never could have imaged?one wonders, what about all those IQ points? Why aren?t they helping? What I argue is that intelligence that?s not modulated and moderated by creativity, common sense and wisdom is not such a positive thing to have. What it leads to is people who are very good at advancing themselves, often at other people?s expense. We may not just be selecting the wrong people, we may be developing an incomplete set of skills?and we need to look at things that will make the world a better place. Do we know how to cultivate wisdom? Yes we do. A whole bunch of my colleagues and I study wisdom. Wisdom is about using your abilities and knowledge not just for your own selfish ends and for people like you. It?s about using them to help achieve a common good by balancing your own interests with other people?s and with high-order interests through the infusion of positive ethical values. You know, it?s easy to think of smart people but it?s really hard to think of wise people. I think a reason is that we don?t try to develop wisdom in our schools. And we don?t test for it, so there?s no incentive for schools to pay attention. Continued https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...t-fools-rdquo/ __________________ Sexy Girls Teasing

06-02-2017, 11:05 AM	#6
beerptrol Confirmed Asshole Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Half way between sobriety and fubar. Posts: 12,722	Just fools which aren't hard to spot, look in the mirror op __________________ “If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” -- Ulysses S. Grant

06-02-2017, 05:03 PM	#7
onwebcam Fake Nick 1.0 Industry Role: Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Rent free, your head Posts: 27,653	He believes in climate change so put him in the fool pool as well. __________________ PLEASE WAIT WHILE BIDEN ADMIN UNINSTALLS ITSELF..... ██████████████████▒ 99.5% complete.

06-02-2017, 10:45 AM	#5
Bladewire StraightBro Industry Role: Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Monarch Beach, CA USA Posts: 56,232	Oh look another WeHateAmerica thread by WeHatePorn. The antiAmerican shill is bitching about our school system, something he's never experienced. A Russian bitching about the USA school system is as stupid as an American bitching about the Russian system. But this isn't really about the American school system, it's about WeHateAmerica working the fissures in American culture to divide Americans. Don't forget that 👍🏼😉