Getting smarter or dumber?

[DarthRavanger]

Indeed. On that note, I am reminded of a number of tales from my home town wherein the parent was the problem with the abilities of the children. For some reason, some of the parents actually had it in their minds that their own kids were "thinking they're better than us" for studying and passing tests and actually ACTIVELY sought to sabotage them. Forcing them to skip a test, refusing to give them time to study and bad mouthing the educational system. So yeah, it is not always the kid that is the problem.

Parental inferiority complex, We can call it. I'm guessing the parents in those cases are probably dropouts or did poorly in school themselves.

[Azmodan Kijur]

I would imagine you are correct in that assessment, Darth. In fact, I do know that at least some of them scarcely had their Grade 6, so that speaks volumes.

An inferiority complex is a terrible thing in this type of case. And few reserved it for their own children. They'd tell one and all that "you don't need none of that book learnin'. Fillin' yer head with stupid nonsense." There's a fine thing to say to a kid. It is little wonder that you can take money from these types of people with shocking ease - they are always buying into one crappy idea or another. They get taken for a ride, but they don't have the knowledge to know that. Sad really.

My aunt was visiting my mother once and did similar to me. I was in the corner of the living room, minding my business and reading a book. When she got up to leave and passed me, she plucked at the book and uttered this gem "You get your nose out of that book. You don't need that". Fortunately, I made it a point never to listen to the witch (never liked her - evil woman), so it didn't phase me. But imagine the condition of her own children.

[LilithLorelai]

Alright, let me start by saying "I'm sorry for all that follows..." and that I went to an American private school. It's my own POV and NOTHING more/
That being said...
The education system can never be a system. That is just silly.
Are people getting smarter or dumber? Well, 'the more things change the more they stay the same' is a saying for a reason. Information is FAR more accessible than it has ever been but enlightenment is not, necessarily. I can only hope that this ease of information hits more individuals the previously. IQ tests, etc. are 'test taking' tests...if it were otherwise I would be far...than I am. Scores mean nothing in and of themselves. (Always did poorly in grammar and (mostly) punctuation, sry) I never fully grasp the fluctuating rules of (especially) punctuation.
Anyway, is the question "are people getting to be better at retrieving information' or is it 'Are people getting better at thinking'?
For the former..a resounding YES!
For the latter...already said it...the more things change....

There is potential....but who knows?

[HalloweenWeed]

Seriously, we select for intellectual capacity to an extent, though it is nature and nurture at the same time so it is difficult to "select" for in the traditional sense.

Sorry Azmo, but I have to take issue with this statement, assuming you were serious. As a matter of fact, from my observation, many of the smarter ppls have fewer children - often only one or two, as opposed to the ones who I've seen that were obviously dim, and a whole house full of rug-rats. Intelligence has little to do with the frequency of reproduction, other than those with obvious impairments like Down's syndrome. There are plenty of guys out there (unfortunately) that are more than willing to knock up just about any willing woman who enters a bar - and guess what, they aren't very bright either.

I also don't buy the premise that intellect can be inbred in this fashion. Two mating geniuses more often than not don't produce a genius (I wish you good luck with your future child). They often get higher schooling levels, and thus more book knowledge, but just not genius intelligence.

We are where we are because we developed larger brain pans.

I have heard that some of the smarter animals have very small brains. If having a larger brain means a linear difference in being smart, I think we all should be a thousand times smarter than we are. I just don't buy that the brain size equates to more smarter. However perhaps it is a limitation factor.

"How does one determine what aspect of the brain is responsible for intelligence? Brain mass does not seem to be responsible. For example, men have a higher average brain mass than women, but it has not been shown that men are overall more intelligent than women. Also, the person with the largest brain mass ever recorded (2850g) was also recorded to be an epileptic "idiot"" - Intelligence, Amanda Davis
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro05/web1/adavis.html

This is just one of thousands of readily available examples of the debunking of brain size = intelligence.


However, I have no argument with your overall assertion regarding the subject of this thread, Azmo.