Used Iq Test example essay topic

How the Power Struggle affects Testing and Research First let it be said that we are in a constant struggle for power. The modern world's economic and political power structure requires constant access to information as well as faster and faster means of accessing it. The saying, "Knowledge is Power", is more true now that it ever it was. It is a commonly known fact that to simply survive, one must keep up with the ever developing world; but if you want to succeed, you must make progress. The dominant culture uses this term progress to describe the testing and research one carries out to "get ahead in this world" and then what he or she does to stay ahead. (Research will be viewed as a series of tests.) Other strategies exist as well, but will be excluded for the sake of space.

This struggle for power fosters a "do or die" attitude that is not just an after-effect of, but is also partly responsible for the Western approach to using research and testing to "get ahead". It is not a coincidence that the testing and research of a society shows its dominant class to be the most advanced and accomplished of that society. Those who exert the most control over a society's main sources of production and consumption have always been the most influential interpreters of progress in that society (Ball & Dagger, 1995). They bend and twist science and technology to convince the world that they are as the say; it's natural and rightful leaders.

The impact these tactics have on our lives is tremendous. We are surrounded with what seems to be authority telling us that we are inferior to the dominant culture. We have SAT and ACT tests on one side telling us we cannot succeed like we want to and then society on the other fooling us into believing that what they call success is what we want. They force and reinforce these ideas externally until it is internalized and we begin to feed it and on it by ourselves. The result is a people that spends all its energy fooling itself and ridiculing itself and never being itself. It's little wonder we have a such a hard time being ourselves though, when we are being so thoroughly misled.

You see, true progress does not have a purpose towards an end; it is an end. Here, in the European culture (America being extremely accepting of its influence), it is used to gain recognition or authority, with no regard to the fact that in its true form, progress is the result of gaining knowledge. It comes from (not leads to) gaining a deeper understanding of a particular field. Even more important than the use of testing and researching for getting ahead is the way it is used with the intention of furthering ones own convictions (and prejudices).

In science, one should be driven entirely to finding the truth. Too often in the Western culture, research is done under such a narrow minded scope that real progress is thwarted and even rejected. So the outcomes of this situation are not just incomplete results and conclusions, but incorrect results and conclusions. When evaluating how one uses research and testing to make progress, the following factors should be considered (Adapted from Banks): The purpose of the test and the testers themselves The relationship between those who will participate in creating and validating the tests and those who will use and benefit from its results. The ability and flexibility of the test to actually address its proposed area of knowledge. The extent to which the particulars of the situation are explained to those who will use or consider the information.

The first of these refers to my main point; one must examine the motives of the test-makers before giving credibility to the tests. One might find it interesting that the developer of the widely used IQ (Intelligence Quotient) Test intended it to be used only as a means to identify areas where one's current performance might need assistance. He made it expressly clear that it did not measure potential or even overall performance of ones mind. Yet during the Truman Administration, because of an onslaught of immigrants, the Naturalization Department began looking for ways to classify the newcomers' productivity. A man by the name of Binet (Stanford University) adopted this test and began to apply it in the exact context for which it was not meant. In not looking for the truth, they ended up with mostly lies; lies that have profound consequences on people of color to this day.

The second criterion refers to making sure the test is valid for the intended group. If the test was developed using children from a foreign country then the test should not be applied to children of America (this has been done). The notion that children view things in the same manner as children from different backgrounds has been proven false over and over again (along with a lot of other equally irrational notions presented by these tests). Yet, remnants of their destructive ideas prevail today.

In India, a study revealed that doctors who were native to the country would score as low as those diagnosed with Down Syndrome in America (Medina & Neill, 1990). Intelligence is not regional. The third criterion for checking the validity of research and testing is to ensure that the research or test can actually do what it is setting out to do. Here the ACT and SAT tests serve as good examples. Evidence of their popularity is found in the degree to which it they are taken seriously by students and the public alike. Although it is widely believed that these tests can predict one success in the real world, this is a completely false assertion.

Statistically, those who do well on them are not the most likely to succeed in real life. These tests are not reliable indicators of one's overall performance. It makes one wonder why they " re still being used so frequently. To answer this, I examined the atmosphere in which these tests are being used.

The market for testing is one of the most lucrative in all of America. Testing is not just being confined to the educational realm; its being used in areas like child development, mental health, and even evolution. It has an extremely large market of mostly two types of people. The first is the set of people who benefit from these tests and use them to further the falsehoods that maintain their form of society.

The other group is made up of people (Black and White) who use these results time and time again because they find it much easier to look at a test rather than at a human being. This ties in to my fourth point. Whether it's through conditioning or through widespread laziness, people are not aware of how to accurately apply the results of this research. So second-hand conclusions-more faulty than their forerunners-come to light. This is the stage of the testing game in which most of the damage is actually done.

Without the acknowledgement that this stuff is worthless, You have men and women of "science" writing essays and doing studies based on worthless information. Besides this, and maybe even more effectual is the occasional idiot who reads some of this somewhere and decides to spend an hour with his or her friends or co-workers spreading this around like a dirty rumor. From this menacing behavior, arises perverted assumptions and deceitful generalizations that will, if not curbed, destroy this American "Empire" from within (here, of course, empire is pejorative). This dire outcome is possible at this stage because this is where the public's opinions are most susceptible. This is where one makes up his or her mind, secretly, to keep power just where it is; in the hands of those who would destroy rather than empower in order to make progress.

This is where the stage is set so that when an opportunity arises to do something about people of color, they won't even hesitate. You see, this is where the loud idiots will get their foot soldiers. Using erroneous information and out-right lies, these people will gain support. It should be noted that this public support of these ideas are very real and very prevalent; evidence of which can be seen in their popularity.

It is true that whites are subject to the same brainwashing we are and that they sometimes perpetuate these ideas without knowing it. However, it is also true that their people have did this willingly, with absolutely no outside force, for centuries. How can we not consider that it is very likely that there will come a point in their lives when they will consciously take advantage of their benefits as members of the dominant culture. They may claim their sense of equality with the "Negro" (per.) now but catch them when the boss or their boyfriend (to name a couple) is making a degrading joke or comment.

All bets are off when their acceptance into this "harsh" society is at stake. Then the lies are used as a point of connection with mainstream society, something that doesn't hurt in this world. That is, if you want the American brand of success (regardless of cost). This bring us full circle.

Lies are perpetuated by mainstream society and its desire to have power. This desire is their beginning and their end (their aim). Yes, pressure is involved from the mainstream, but there is also a twisted form of self-preservation being embraced. Here, the self is seen as the dominant culture and it is twisted by the notion that they must degrade others in order to preserve themselves.

The after-effect of all this is a society of fallacies; no one is how they are seen by the mainstream. Either we are being oppressed or exalted; whichever one, none of us fit into the respective roles that society sets for us.