IQ, Education, and Plasticity

I came across the comments section of an article on IQ differences between Blacks and Whites wherein the opinion was given that IQ depends upon education. This notion is rather common but entirely mistaken. IQ is a measure of psychology independent of education, and it changes very little past a certain age.

IQ is a hotly debated and controversial topic because its proponents and antagonists represent a clash between religion and science - truly unwinnable debates. One side will vanquish the other because there is no basis for mediation. As of now, the religious fundamentalists are winning, stating that IQ is a false construct, mutable, irrelevant, or all of the above.

To return to the relationship between education and IQ based upon science, they are completely separate realities. IQ measures psychology, whereas education measures behavior. The two may be correlated, but they are not causal.

The easiest way to make this point clear is to observe that IQ is measured in children, well before they have completed their education, and more than a decade before they have completed their most important educations if they are college bound. 

Dr Charles Murray, in discussing pre-school interventions as a means of improving education or intelligence for children pointed out that the IQs recorded at ages 3-5 are the IQs recorded at age 18. He stated that IQ is generally static past age 6. This means that IQ is not plastic or amenable to educational interventions. It is a significantly biological artifact which education generally does not modify.

Those with higher IQs tend to have higher educational attainment, though one can easily find exceptions with both modestly endowed people having significantly more education than predicted by their IQs. Likewise, very high IQ examples may be found where education is below their predicted levels based upon IQ.

The bottom line is that education generally will not raise your IQ. It might make you more employable or more interesting, but your IQ under normal circumstances is settled by the age of 6, although I am quite aware of the fact that many psychometricians have given 12-16 years of age as the point of demarcation where IQ fails to advance. Even so, for many people, their most important education years are ahead of them, and their IQs will hover where it was in their adolescences.

Reference
Charles Murray, Charles Murray -- The Bell Curve Revisited, youtube.com, source((610) Charles Murray -- The Bell Curve Revisited - YouTube, accessed 5/24/2021)

Copyright 2021 Tony Bonn. All rights reserved.