Jonathan V. Last, Part 2: Testing

I will discuss Mr. Last’s article again, for he also made an important point that I had never heard of before, and that had nothing to do with the land-use issues which Blue Kennel takes a great interest in.

It seems that there was, in 1971, a case called Griggs vs. Duke Power. In this case, the Supreme Court employers were forbidden to make use of any kind of IQ tests, SAT, ACT, or any other such test. Why? Because certain disadvantaged minorities did not tend to perform as well on these tests. Colleges and universities, however, have not been forbidden to use these tests. Since employers can’t test people’s intelligence, they prefer to use people who have been tested by the colleges and found worthy. Whether the college or university is teaching any knowledge or skill that has anything to do with the job is not necessarily relevant. For some jobs, the knowledge and training gained at university are really helpful; but for some others, they are not – and yet, a college degree is required for other reasons – namely, that colleges can test intelligence. So if it were not for this case, lots of people who shouldn’t really be going to college might not have to do so.

Article cited: “America’s One-Child Policy” by Jonathan V. Last at The Weekly Standard

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