Novel

Today I am presented with a bunch of new information I have never thought about before and a question: is testing intelligence fair? I thought it was, after learning how standardized modern intelligence tests are, but there is another thing to be considered: intelligence varies across different ethnic groups and cultures. Different cultures have different values and intelligence is one of them. In class, my group and I took several different quizzes, I saw that they said they were Australian intelligence tests. I figured since Australians spoke English that the tests would not be too difficult. However, the questions were quite strange and while some seemed easy, my group found ourselves only getting a few questions right. My psychology teacher informed us that these questions were basic knowledge for the people in that specific culture and that we probably fell into the "mentally retarded" category of their intelligence.

In order for intelligence tests to be completely fair, people should be tested on what they put values on. It wasn't fair for me to be considered 'mentally retarded' because I wasn't aware of wallabies and kangaroos. Nor is it fair for members of various tribes to be considered 'mentally retarded' because they do not put an emphasis on counting and math. Intelligence is very complex, so the testing should be complex too, it's the only way to make it completely fair.

We also took a test on "street smarts" written by a black sociologist. I thought that my group had maybe gotten most of the questions right but we ended up only getting two right. Many of the answers we chose were based on stereotypes and things we had heard, rather than facts we knew. This relates to an article I read for psychology too, an article titled "You Can't High Jump If the Bar Is Set Low" by Connie Leslie. This article was very interesting and proposed a perspective I had never thought of before. It proposed that the reason black students do not fair as well educationally is 'stereotype vulnerability'. This means that the threat of a stereotype on people can affect their performance. The article says "when blacks (or any other group) are confronted with a stereotype about their intellectual skills before they take tests, they tend to perform according to the stereotype). The article was very clear in providing studies with evidence to back up this statement. It makes perfect sense, too. Imagine if nobody believed in you and thought you were stupid, what would you do? Many would probably say "I would work hard to prove them wrong" and maybe they would, but it is easy to say that when it's not the reality. It makes sense that people would succumb to the negative stereotypes of others because they feel bad about themselves and how people perceive them.

Stereotypes are all around us. As a teenager, some of the worst stereotypes are set on me. Stereotypes like "bad tippers" or "trouble makers" have caused me to have rude waiters and openly suspicious store clerks when I'm with my friends. Do I act on those stereotypes? No, I actually try my best to disprove them, but I can see why some teenagers do. It is annoying for a waiter not to be friendly to you just because other teenagers haven't tipped them before, but I am always a good tipper and try to give them hope for teenagers. I understand that I do not succumb to 'stereotype vulnerability', but several other teenagers do. Discrimination and stereotyping are not okay, whether it be because of ethnicity or age. I believe that stereotype vulnerability exists and is important to keep in mind before judging someone on their actions and abilities.