Monday, April 2, 2012

Reaction


The intelligence tests we had to take today were difficult when they weren't from my era or culture. The Reddon-Simons "Rap" Test was hilarious even though I didn't get very many answers correct. I don't think intelligence testing is fair because I don't know the same "general knowledge" that someone in India knows and vise-versa. People have different intelligences based on where they live because of the different cultures. There are definitely cultural stereotypes and you can see them within each test. For example, the Original Australian Test of Intelligence asks questions about kangaroos and whether you eat or drink water. In the U.S., we drink water and eat food but people in Australia eat both water and food. The Chitling Intelligence Test was created by a black sociologist drawing from black-ghetto experiences and some of the questions clearly shows the ghetto stereotype because of the slang used. Finally, the American/Australian Test of Intelligence makes it clear that it is meant for Americans because of the questions like "why does the states require people to get a license in order to get married?" unless you've studied American marriage laws, you'd probably have to live here to answer this question correctly.

The article kind of made me sad and feel bad for those who are intimidated by stereotypes. I can relate to this article because on almost all standardized tests, there is a spot to fill in whether you're, African-American, Caucasian, Asian, or any other race. Like the article stated, whites don't feel intimidated by this question... I sure don't, I don't see why someone should. Just asking your race doesn't suddenly mean you're dumb if you're not Asian or white. I definitely don't understand how asking you're race would affect test scores anyhow. Wouldn't that make you want to try harder to prove your stereotype wrong than just accept it and fail? The part in the article where she talks about females showing lower scores when told males score higher on a test made me a little mad. If i was told that males scored higher previous to taking a test, I would work my butt off to make sure I score just as well if not better than the males.

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