Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!cornell!uw-beaver!microsoft!t-peterl
From: t-peterl@microsoft.UUCP (Peter Labon)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: High I.Q., etc.
Message-ID: <1346@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 30 Mar 88 07:36:37 GMT
Reply-To: t-peterl@forward.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE)
Organization: Lack thereof
Lines: 47

First: I just wrote an xxAT test and I think they suck, even though I think
	I did well.

I do not believe in xxAT tests measuring what they _ideally_ should
but I can't make them go away, or more importantly replace them with
something that works, for the intended goal of measuring aptitude
(w.r.t. the subject and not test test-taking).

However, reading the High-I.Q. society bashing (as I like to call it)
I find little insinuations from the bashers, regarding their superior
intelligence, such as (use childish tone, e.g. Nanny, nanny boo boo)
"I'm so smart I was exempted from xxAT tests" (not a quote, just
quoted). An even worse one went along the lines of "I did better
than you on the test [a test previously stated as not proving much
about a person's ability]" (not a quote, but childish tone still works).

Virtue is a reward unto itself (or something like that): If you're
going to say that xxAT tests are not a fair representation of 
someone's intelligence, don't follow it up with ".. but if
they were, I did well on them, so I still am intelligent"

Let's cut the baby ego talk and show some strength of conviction.

On a less cutting note: does anyone know (especially in the land of academia)
what the popular attitude toward xxAT tests is? i.e. how important
are these marks in getting into a reputable school. I assume that
a _good_ (how do you measure this?) school would just glance
at them in order to determine whether or not they differed greatly
from the rest of the "evidence".

I agree that smarter is better (in today's world), but was 
is smarter? How do you
measure it? It seems that people have been trying to address
these questions for a long time, but haven't quite succeeded.
This, however, does not mean that the people who are trying
(really trying, as opposed to making a fast buck) should
be cut-up by the people who see that (the ones who try) haven't
succeeded (as yet). What positive ideas do the bashers have?

I'd love to hear something positive and not judging
(like this posting). If you can't laugh at yourself
who can you laugh at? (the serious types should
disregard this last paragraph - you know who you are
without the need for a test).

--Peter
t-peterl@microsoft