What is the Purpose of early intelligence tests?

Answer 1

Intelligence testing was originally used in France, because originally, the ideal was to educate the entire French population. Sadly, not everyone could keep pace with the schooling, thus, intelligence tests were developed to see what children were fit for school and what children were not. Interestingly enough though, it was discovered that feeble mindedness (e.g. mental retardation) was in fact rare, and the "slower" children, often came from abusive homes. Children who got the highest scores, also, did not come from the wealthiest families; many of the smartest children in fact came from families that, although not the richest, they were judged by the testers as "happy." For the most part; this was not always the case, although you want to make an argument for statistics, statistically speaking you get more brainy children from happy homes, than you do from messed up ones. Moreover, these early I.Q. tests, were not standardized; Binet, the man who administered them, was arduously thorough. He took everything into consideration from nutrition, to even if the child was getting enough fresh air. His work, was in fact exhaustive, something not mentioned in most American Psychology tests (I found this stuff out on my own). Why did I do a lot of independent research in the library? Simply put I didn't trust my professors, or the textbooks I was reading. I also read something else I found interesting; Binet discovered, that many of the most intelligent children, had no toys, also, their parents treated them like miniature adults. Sadly, the children had no toys; Binet found that the "playthings" of the particularly smart children, were adult level books their parents owned. Children's Books have always existed since books first came into print, however the children that Binet found to be the most intelligent, where the ones who were not treated like children, also, these children, had no toys other than adult level reading. That is when Binet came up with the theory, that the harder you push a child, the smarter they will in fact become in fact, the reason the French educational system is as brutal as it is, is because they base it around Binet's theories. France is hardly a superpower, nevertheless, some of the smartest people in Europe, are in fact French. Many French people are so intelligent, that the racist-against-whites Japanese have a lot of RESPECT for the French. Normally, like many east asians, Japanese people tend to see westerners as buffoons, not the French though. For the Japanese to respect French intelligence, speaks loudly for them. Also in my college career I met many French people; virtually all of them, expressed disgust for the American educational system. Actually, I don't think any of them had any respect at all. France is so highly regarded the world over in terms of education, that the French school system is by fare the most widely used in the world. In fact, the Japanese system, is a streamlined version of the French. By "streamlined" I mean, they only focus on math, language, and science, the subjects Japanese educators feel youth will need most in the world of work. The Japanese score highly on math, largely because they take so many freakin' classes. I think somewhere around 3 hours of their day is dedicated solely to math; the two in the actual school, and the 1 to get their homework done. You ever see, or hear of the cartoon character Lupin III? Japanese audiences, only believe him to be intelligent, solely over the fact that he's French. Yes, its true, early intelligence tests WERE used to test what children were fit for schooling and what children were not, nevertheless, Binet also clearly stated, that if a child was made to study hard enough, a lot of emphasis on problem solving as early as possible, in time the handling of heavy material would come naturally to the brain. The French system is in fact so good, you won't see too many French studying outside of France. Most of the French I met, were only here to get work, namely, academic credit. By that I mean they were not here to study; they were here, to be research assistants to college and university professors who REQUESTED them. I did meet one, who studied here, but it was only for a semester; most of the crap he took was humanities, largely elective credit. He scored so highly on that silly international test scale thing Colleges use, he was not required to take either English, or Math courses, he could skip straight to the humanities elective credits he wanted. Why did he come to America in the first place? He had heard, College over here was easy; he was only here because he "needed to relax." If you are a red, white and blue American I think you would find that A LITTLE insulting. "Yeah, I came here for some easy credit; back home school was too hard." If you are a Lupin III fan, the character is pretty much the only non-Japanese anime hero, or at least non-Asian, because the French are pretty much the only westerners, whose intelligence the Japanese respect. Yup; French education sure does its job. Apparently Lupin III has such a solid understanding of physics, there is no car chase he can't survive! [[User:67.148.120.72|67.148.120.72]]stardingo747