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gog  1yr ago (text post)   Edited 1yr ago   6433 thread views

Where are the people smarter than us hanging out?

In Paul Fussell’s book on class (I think), he says that people are really worried about differentiating themselves from the class immediately below them, but largely ignorant of the customs and sometimes even existence of the classes above them. When I found SSC, and then The Motte, and stuff like TLP, I was astonished to find a tier of the internet I had had no idea even existed. The quality of discourse here is . . . usually . . . of the kind that “high brow” (by internet standards) websites THINK they are having, but when you see the best stuff here you realize that those clowns are just flattering themselves. My question is, who is rightly saying the same thing about us? Of what intellectual internet class am I ignorant now? Or does onlineness impose some kind of ceiling on things, and the real galaxy brains are at the equivalent of Davos somewhere?

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These are not IQ tests. Note that I said like standardized tests. Although irrelevant to the discussion, the tests you specifically mention are things you need to study for. The top performers on these tests are people from supportive family structures who apply themselves rigorously and consistently.

Standardized test are correlated with IQ test scores and, as already said, studying for them do very little. In as much as they do something (imparting domain knowledge, for example) the magnitude of the improvement will depend on the "g factor" of the student, as an example, if your test include Physics or Biology knowledge you must study for it, of course, but it doesn't mean that everyone study will be equally productive: some people will never comprehend the formulas or memorize enough details and working harder does not benefit said students, it may even be cruel.

They're correlated, this doesn't necessarily mean they're the same thing. These tests do not and have never claimed to measure IQ. Many of the questions on these tests require specific knowledge, analytical skills and ways of thinking that can be obtained from a textbook.

I come from a poor broken home (divorced parents, 9th percentile household income in my country) and obtained a 99.7th percentile score in the equivalent of the SAT in my country. I know of three people that went on a tutoring centre and bought a 4000 euro preparatory course and still did not pass. Anecdote? It seems corroborated by studies after studies in different countries and different educational systems, so...

What you're saying is not corroborated by anything and is merely anecdotal. It's actually quite the opposite, as differences in standardized test scores across different rungs on the socioeconomic ladder have always been attributed to the accessibility of quality test material and the tremendous opportunity cost of studying, particularly in the US. Assessments like the SAT are made to require studying some amount of trivia, and students from poor neighborhoods just aren't going to have the time, resources or support structure to put into this. Most of these students aren't even going to be thinking about school in the first place because of cultural issues. I'm glad that you're the exception, but there are lot of people that grew up like you did who were not as fortunate.

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