History of IQ

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If you listed the 10-most important scientific discoveries of the 20th
century—such as DNA, atomic energy, or space flight—would “IQ”
make your final cut? Many think it should. Created to quantify a
person’s intelligence, the IQ score and an unfortunate French-to-English
translation changed the course of education for a hundred years.
In 1904, Alfred Binet was commissioned
by the French government to develop a
test to separate intellectually normal from
inferior students. The purpose was to
send lesser children to special education.
At the time, he cautioned the test wasn’t
suitable as “a general device for ranking
all pupils according to mental worth.”
Just like today, some at the turn of
the century believed intelligence was
fixed, but Binet vehemently disagreed.
“We must protest...[their belief] is
founded on nothing.” If the inventor of
the IQ test never intended IQ to be a
comprehensive picture of intelligence—
and he knew it could be modified, what
happened?

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In 1909, H.H. Goddard translated the
Simon-Binet (IQ) Test into English. He
considered intelligence “a solitary, fixed,
and inborn entity.” His bias shaped
the translation and led people to
accept IQ . . . as a definitive, permanent
representation of a person’s quality.1
American schools used the intelligence
scales, but ignored Binet’s warnings.
By the 1920’s, the test’s importance
grew into a multi-million dollar industry.
Popularity escalated, and according to
the Mental Measurements Yearbook,
2,467 tests measuring some form of
intellectual ability were in print by 1974.
Five hundred million tests were given in
one year in the 80’s alone!
What’s the problem? Intelligence tests
are unreliable predictors of performance,
and are inaccurate (sometimes varying
by as much as 15 points from test to
test.) If Goddard’s position were true,
IQ should obviously predict reading.
However, there are clearly individuals
with a low IQ who are good readers.1
In
another injustice, IQ tests are of inflated
importance for people with learning
disabilities.

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Most have deficiencies in
one or more component skills that are
part of the tests (such as word attack)
and may lead to underestimating the
real intelligence of that person.2
The
IQ score may be lower than someone
who doesn’t have these problems, even
though they have identical reasoning
and problem-solving skills.3
IQ tests measure what can be done
now, not what can be done in the future
[potential].3
Parents are wise to seek
testing designed to find out what exactly
gives their child difficulty, not general
intelligence. Get a child the testing
and training he needs, and see what
happens!