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from the those-who-can,-do,-those-who-can't,-teach dept.
In the US: this article presents an analysis how a person's chosen college major corresponds to their IQ. The interesting thing is that the relationship has remained essentially stable over the past 70 years. At the top of the list are math, science and engineering. At the absolute bottom of the list: education.
These data show that US students who choose to major in education, essentially the bulk of people who become teachers, have for at least the last seven decades been selected from students at the lower end of the academic aptitude pool. A 2010 McKinsey report (pdf) by Byron Auguste, Paul Kihn, and Matt Miller noted that top performing school systems, such as those in Singapore, Finland, and South Korea, "recruit 100% of their teacher corps from the top third of the academic cohort."
The article points out that it isn't quite this simple: Top schools place high requirements on all of their students; poor schools generally attract lower quality students in all of their programs. Still, the national averages are clear: overall, the least intelligent students go on to teach. This is an odd priority.
Educational organizations, of course, have a different view. This article claims that teacher quality declined from the 1960s through the 1990s, but has since recovered, with teachers being barely below average (48th percentile) among college graduates.
On a related note, there is a strong international correlation between teacher pay and student outcomes. The (rather obvious) theory is that higher pay attracts better candidates to the teaching profession.
No conclusions - just thought this might spark an interesting discussion...
(Score: 1) by Francis on Friday July 01 2016, @03:09PM
Indeed, I could probably join Mensa if I really wanted to, and I think you're absolutely right. Some of us are able to effectively teach and to help in ways that people with less cognitive function could, but I think most folks with higher IQs are going to have issues relating to students that are struggling and waste a ton of energy being frustrated by "easy" things being hard for the students to understand.
There's also the issue that folks with higher IQs don't necessarily know anything about study skills. Most of the time, I got my A just by showing up to class and writing whatever the instructor wrote on the board and not much else. It worked because my memory and my ability to systematize the information was way above the typical student, but I think it would have been better if I had been challenged enough to have to actually work at it.
That being said, IQ is probably the best measure we have of cognitive abilities related to our model of education and pulling from the lower half is probably only slightly better than pulling everybody from the top quarter.
Ultimately, having a high IQ might be somewhat relevant early on or if you're presented with a student that needs a very quick on the fly explanation for something that you don't normally do. But, realistically, you're generally doing the same course over and over and over for decades and having a high IQ is definitely not needed to keep regurgitating the same basic ideas each time.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday July 01 2016, @03:32PM
The thing is, teaching is simply a skill. One those with a high IQ could learn just as quickly as they learn everything else.
Interpersonal interaction would likely be the biggest problem. Many of us who ruined bell curve grading systems for everyone else do not play well with others. It's not that we necessarily look down on them so much as it is that it can be exceedingly tiring trying to explain something that you grasped quickly to someone who cannot seem to come to terms with it. Patience is not a skill that IQ helps with whatsoever.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Informative) by jdavidb on Friday July 01 2016, @05:11PM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday July 01 2016, @06:19PM
Self-awareness and self-control factor in there greatly as well. Both can be learned but IQ doesn't help a whole lot with either.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Friday July 01 2016, @07:23PM
According to this psychologist, IQ can help a lot with self-control - if your IQ enables you to recognize that there is a problem and that there is value in learning to control yourself.
Apparently I wasn't very controlled back in my past. :)
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday July 01 2016, @07:40PM
I know I certainly wasn't. Thank $deity_of_choice for my shrink and Adderall. It makes tedium and stupidity bearable, if only just.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday July 02 2016, @01:51AM
It can be, however it's a very short trip from there to full blown psychopathy. If your understanding of feelings is limited to the intellectual, then you're still not bound by them. You might have more choice in terms of whom you piss off, but it's going to be difficult to have any particularly deep connection to others.