By definition, intelligence quotient (IQ) is a number that represents a person’s reasoning ability at the time of test-taking. In other words, it’s an individual’s mental age divided by his/her chronological age, multiplied by 100. I bet most of you are familiar with what IQ is, but I’m not quite sure if anyone told you the dirty stuff behind that.
Historically, the IQ test was created as a screening process during World War I to assign people in different positions. Then, it became popular in World War II (WW II) since they used it as an excuse to discriminate against the uneducated and feeble-minded people. After WW II, IQ testing was used as an argument for racial segregation. The government and some scholars used their power of authority and took advantage of people’s lack of knowledge to covertly justify the true purpose of it by showing the numbers and statistics of the test.
There’re many avenues to address the inaccuracies of such testing and many other examples that I could’ve used; however, I chose this one because I believe it resonates with what most of us experienced during the quarantine. Being vulnerable due to the scarcity of the coronavirus specifics and the uncertainty of the future led us to passively receive a slew of information which we seldom question the purpose of it. In times like this, we are required to be a l e r t.
