More languages
More actions
An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a number derived from a test that claims to measure intelligence. It finds its origins in racism and capitalism.[1]
History[edit | edit source]
Lewis Terman created the Stanford-Binet scale in 1916 and planned to set a minimum IQ for every job. He experimented on Mexicans, Jews, and indigenous people in San Quentin Prison and claimed that non-whites and foreigners were less intelligent.
In 1917, Terman worked with Carl Brigham, Henry Goddard, and Robert Yerkes to test 1.7 million soldiers for the First World War and split the army into a literate Army Alpha and an illiterate Army Beta. The Alpha test had a question asking, "Why are criminals locked up?", to which the correct answer was "to protect society" and not "to make them work." The tests claimed that Black people were less intelligent.
In 1923, Brigham published A Study of American Intelligence, which ranked Nordic countries at the top and Africa at the bottom. Italy and Ireland were also ranked below England. He blamed interracial marriage for decreasing intelligence and called for racist immigration restrictions. Brigham later created the scholastic aptitude test (SAT).[1]
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yarden Katz (2022-09-01). "Intelligence Under Racial Capitalism: From Eugenics to Standardized Testing and Online Learning" Monthly Review. Archived from the original on 2023-03-27.