Gender

There are a lot more gender similarities then there are differences however it doesn't seem that way because everyone seems to focus on the differences. Intelligence variation in males verse females is minor and are in a wide variety of subjects. Males are better at some things while females are better at others. The subjects you would probably have guessed. Females excel in English while males are better at solving math problems.
These petty differences don't tell you much because like i said before you have to focus more on the individual then anything else. Honestly i don't like it when people stereotype and point out the differences of people. Just because it's an average everyone is not average! This kind of stuff leads to employers choosing employees based on race and gender. Facts show that males have a better aptitude for math so if this is publicized, like these kinds of findings usually are, then most jobs dealing with mathematical computation will go to a male.
Gender differences are prevalent but not reliable enough to base anything on. They are interesting however not important. The same with ethnicity differences. Like i have said and will always say it's all about the individual.

Ethnicity

Do people of different ethnicity have different levels of intelligence? Studies show that yes they do. The average IQ score for an Americans is 100. This score is obtained by finding the mental age from an intelligence tests and dividing that by their actual age then multiplying that by 100. The average score for Americans is 100 so that means their mental age is typically the same as their actual age. African Americans have an average IQ of 85. The same gap has occurred in other cultures as well.
Intelligence can be attributed to heredity and environment. Researchers think that the gap could come from peoples different experiences as a racial group. Which lead to different genes and maybe even different intelligences. But also we know that environment is definitely a factor. Deaf children who miss out on the culture of the American language score lower on the test then hearing children do. Environment plays a larger role in group differences then it does in individual difference. One way to prove that environment is a factor is by looking at Asian children compared to American. Asians score a higher average on math tests then Americans do. This is probably due to the fact that they are in school 30 % more days then Americans and spend much more time on math.
However, even though statistics prove that some ethnic groups score higher then others you have to take into account the individual. You can't stereotype and assume that just because someone is a certain race they are not as smart. Once people start to get to college the intelligence gap regresses because the environment is so similar for everyone there. The most important thing is to take the individual into account and not the race they come from.

Emotional-Detecting Ability

A very different type of intelligence is the ability to detect other people's emotions. There are some people who can pick up on a persons cues and know right away that their is something wrong. Some people are more sensitive to this type of ability while others wouldn't notice at all. Typically women are better at detecting these types of things then men probably because of their motherly instincts.
The way that researchers have studies people to find their emotional detection abilities is through an experiment. They show them a couple second clip and replace the original words with distorted ones. The person is asked whether the person in the clip was lecturing someone or talking about their deceased grandparents. The answers vary from person to person.
I think this is an important ability to have because you have to be sensitive toward a persons emotion if you are trying to make any type of relationship work. If you can't even tell if something is wrong then the person will feel unnoticed and rejected. I feel like everyone has a little ability to be able to detect how a person is feeling if they try. It is all about paying attention and keeping an open relationship with a person.

Creativity

What is the difference between creativity and intelligence?



I believe that intelligence and creativity are two completely different concepts. Creativity is processed in a completely separate area of the brain and means something totally different. Creativity is being able to think outside of the box to make something that is amazing. People who are creative don't care what other people think and just go with there intuition.
People who are intelligent can be creative but people who are creative don't have to be what our society calls "intelligent".
Studies that have been done on exceptionally creative scientists, inventors, and engineers show that they all have a few traits in common. They are usually intrinsically motivated and are their own toughest critic. They know a lot of information and try to obtain a lot of knowledge. They have the ability to try new things and see things in different ways; they don't have a problem with fixation. They are persistent and don't give up after the first fifty tries. Also they like to work and groups and be supported by their colleagues or friends.
If you don't have all of these traits that doesn't mean you aren't creative. It comes in many different packages and forms waiting to be explored. Creativity isn't a tangible thing that either you have or you don't. It is something that you have to embrace and explore.

Tracking

Tracking is dividing students up into separate classes with others who share their level of aptitude scores. The reasons for doing this is because some people believe that the truly gifted children are being held back by the others. They think that they would benefit to be in classes with people of the same intelligence.

The Chamber Council on Adolescents Development believes that tracking is "one of the most divisive and damaging school practices in existence." I completely agree with them. To me it sounds a little too much like the segregation we worked so hard to get away from. I believe if our schools were separated bye intelligence levels then some students would begin to feel dumb and would develop a lower self esteem. Also at our school if a student is a lot smarter then the kids in their grade and is not getting anything out of their classes then they cab be moved up a grade. I think this is a lot better solution to students not being challenged then separating them is.

However, things similar to tracking happen at our school a lot more then we would think.We have AP classes which are advanced placement classes and are designed for students who want to be challenged. Then we have directive studies classes which are for students that need a little extra help on their school work. You could consider this a little bit like tracking because it does separate students by intelligence. The one important difference though is that students can't be forced to take these classes.

Standardized Tests

In order for a test to be valid it must follow three rules. It has to be standardized, reliable, and valid. If a test reaches this criteria then it should yield accurate results. The results may be accurate but what are they really telling us?

I don't think that standardized tests in school are completely fair. First of all different people are good at different things. In my previous post i talked about the theories of different intelligences. Standardized tests are only displaying a persons ability in one intelligence. If someone is better at memorizing and recalling things then the test will show that they are smarter. But are they? I don't believe so. Maybe another person is creatively intelligent or emotionally intelligent, but these test do not show that. I don't think our society should base students intelligence solely on standardized tests.

The tests that are most ridiculous are the ACTs and SATs. These are aptitude tests that determine what colleges you can get into. An aptitude test is supposed to predict a persons future performance, so the ACT is suppose to predict how well you will do in college. These test are not even that accurate on predicting a students future college grades. Studies show that the results correlate closely with early grades, but as the year progresses the correlation severely regresses. Also i don't agree with the way that they give the tests; they are all timed and multiple choice. Timed tests always make me even more nervous and unable to concentrate. I don't understand the necessity of timing the tests because not everyone can process things as fast as other people. They treat the tests as if everyone is the same.

I don't think there is anything we can do to fix this problem in society, at least not in the near future. Reforming would take a very long time because this is all our society knows and it's what we base our lives on. However, my friend Aubrey brought this idea to the table. In China their school system is set up completely different then ours. They have a primary education that all children attend. Then they have a secondary education which is divided into academic or vocational. If students want they can start training for medium level skilled workers in vocational school and they start training for their future jobs as a child, or they can go on to further their general education. I think this is a big benefit because different people are good at different things and they can excel in what they are good at. China is way ahead of us and already has everything figured out.

Warning!

I'm going off topic for the next few posts in order to share my views on societies definition of intelligence. We talk about intelligence as if we agree upon what it means. However, we don't.

"Psychologist debate weather we should define it as an inherent cognitive capacity, an achieved level of intellectual performance, or an ascribes quality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder."-David G. Meyers

The fundamental question is whether intelligence is a general ability or several specific abilities. Robert Sternberg believes that we have multiple intelligences. He organized them into three general categories.
Analytical: found from intelligence tests
Creative: ability to generate novel ideas
Practical: "street smarts"

However, even though everyone is different and has different abilities society continues to only take into account our analytical intelligence. It would be difficult to measure other types of intelligence because of the convenience of standardized tests. If we wanted to change our way of thinking it would call for MAJOR reform. My next six post will be about my opinion on topics that deal with the different aspects of life that are based on societies definition of intelligence.