High IQ No Guarantee of Performance

By SAM URETSKY

Which number should come next in the series?

1 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 8 - 13

8 / 13 / 21 / 26 / 31

If you answered 21 you probably qualified for a job in the Trump administration. If you picked any other, you probably voted for Donald Trump,

Which one of the five choices makes the best comparison?

PEACH is to HCAEP as 46251 is to:

25641 / 26451 / 12654 / 51462 / 15264

Actually, here’s another question, true or false:”The word “racecar” is spelled the same forwards and backwards. Anyone who didn’t get that one right probably didn’t vote..

The questions are from standard IQ tests. IQ, intelligence quotient, is an attempt to measure a person’s reasoning ability, More precisely, it measures the ability of a person to take a test that asks things like “Which one of the five is least like the other four?

Dog / Mouse / Lion / Snake / Elephant”

So, when President Trump says his cabinet has “by far the highest IQ of any Cabinet ever assembled,” he says with pride that he has assembled a group of people who can tell you which one of the five choices makes the best comparison?

PEACH is to HCAEP as 46251 is to:

25641 / 26451 / 12654 / 51462 / 15264

We already know that intelligence is hereditary. Inherit enough money and you’re presumed to be intelligent. One obvious example is Betsy DeVos, whose main qualification to be secretary of education is that, between her family and her husband’s, she managed to inherit several billion dollars. Ms. DeVos never went to a public school, never managed an educational institution, but has been a strong advocate of private and charter schools

Ms. DeVos has been a strong advocate of school choice, but hasn’t shown a great deal of concern after that. Make your choice and good luck to you. Ms. DeVos and her husband have worked diligently in favor of charter, private and religious schools, they have shown little or no interest in oversight. According to Chalkbeat, “The DeVos influence is one reason that Michigan’s charter sector is among the least regulated in the country. Roughly 80% of charters in Michigan are run by private companies, far more than in any other state. And state authorities have done little up to now to ensure that charter schools are effectively serving students, eliciting concern from (Obama administration) authorities..”

Ms, DeVos’ concern for accountability is best illustrated by an echange with Sen Tim Kaine (D-Va.):

Kaine: “But I’m really interested in this, should everybody be on a level playing field? So public, charter or private K-12 schools, if they receive taxpayer funding, they should meet the same accountability standards?”

DeVos: “Yes, they should be very transparent with the information. And parents should have that information first and foremost.”

Kaine: “And, if confirmed, will you insist upon that equal accountability in any K-12 school or educational program that receives federal funding whether public, public charter or private?”

DeVos: “I support accountability.”

Kaine: “Equal accountability for all schools that receive federal funding.”

DeVos: “I support accountability.”

Kaine: “Okay, is that a yes or a no?”

DeVos: “That’s a, ‘I support accountability.’ “

Kaine: “Do you not want to answer my question?”

DeVos: “I support accountability.”

Of course intelligence and intelligence quotient represent the ability to assimilate and manipulate information, CNN reported. “There are different kinds of IQ tests, but most analyze your visual, mathematical and language abilities as well as your memory and information processing speed. A licensed psychologist administers a series of subtests; the results are then combined into one score: your IQ.

“Anybody with very high IQ, they have the ability to manipulate, process and interpret information at a deeper level and a higher speed than the average person,” explained Mensa’s gifted youth specialist, Lisa Van Gemert.”

Intelligence is the ability to assimilate and manipulate information, but its value depends on the quality of the information provided. There’s no evidence that human intelligence has increased in the past century or two, but the quality of the information we have to work with has improved.

Isaac Newton said, “if I have seen further than others it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” The Trump administration may have a high IQ, but without the wisdom of past administrations it is leading us to a tragedy unique in American history.

Which answer expresses the meaning of the specified word best?

REASSURING

1) compassionate

2) comforting

3) explanatory

4) meddlesome

Sam Uretsky is a writer and pharmacist living on Long Island, N.Y. Email sdu01@outlook.com.

From The Progressive Populist, March 1, 2017

Populist.com