tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post2798272095640177429..comments2024-03-28T21:32:26.550+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: UK Elite UniversitiesBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-27402193527728358722017-11-15T23:07:00.204+00:002017-11-15T23:07:00.204+00:00If you look at my online book The Genius Famine yo...If you look at my online book The Genius Famine you can see an account of the evidence for decline in intelligence ongoing, also the social selection causes of decline in elite intelligence. I have not the slightest doubt if it!Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-47918803330767025622017-11-15T18:42:55.102+00:002017-11-15T18:42:55.102+00:00Scratch that, Oxbridge entrance examinations and t...Scratch that, Oxbridge entrance examinations and the former S-level would have weeded out the weak just as well, so to speak.<br /><br />There's probably no difference between the academic elite of yesteryear and today, then.Gypsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11912519890362920357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-34571248716321478692017-11-11T17:31:32.834+00:002017-11-11T17:31:32.834+00:00@Bruce
I have my doubts about that, average under...@Bruce<br /><br />I have my doubts about that, average undergraduate IQ has probably marginally gone up since the introduction of the A* grade, especially in mathematics.Gypsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11912519890362920357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-16934138439380263702017-11-11T07:20:22.969+00:002017-11-11T07:20:22.969+00:00@G - I have published several pieces on this gener...@G - I have published several pieces on this general theme archived at<br /><br />http://iqpersonalitygenius.blogspot.co.uk/<br /><br />which you might discover by word searching. <br /><br />What is clear is that the elite universities are not aiming to maximise intelligence among their students - that can be seen from the explicit policies (de facto quotas on the high IQ groups), the exams (evaluations that favour Conscientiousness over intelligence) and by increasingly aggressive affirmative action for lower intelligence groups and individuals. <br /><br />The average intelligence of university leadership has collapsed over the past three decades - probably down by a full standard deviation At Least. <br /><br />Add in the culture of pervasive dishonesty in universities, and the situation is not really very rewarding to spend time on. Also, I don't actively work on intelligence any more; I have probably said what I want to. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-52213403501966959492017-11-10T23:01:46.287+00:002017-11-10T23:01:46.287+00:00I hate to be obnoxious Bruce but are you in a posi...I hate to be obnoxious Bruce but are you in a position, as an academic to instigate a study of the average IQ of the undergraduate population at Oxford or Cambridge?<br /><br />Predictions like mine are frustrating because they mean nothing without empirical data and rest on a number of assumptions.Gypsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11912519890362920357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-9861052568510490292017-11-10T18:06:26.373+00:002017-11-10T18:06:26.373+00:00Assuming there are 800,000 18 year olds, and 6,300...Assuming there are 800,000 18 year olds, and 6,300 Oxbridge places(3,200 Oxford, 3,100 Cambridge), and that all of the most intelligent students go to Oxbridge and that there's a perfect correlation between intelligence and academic achievement the minimum rarity of an Oxbridge undergraduate is 1:127 implying an IQ of 137, by making that twice as rare, 1:254 we can get a rough implied median of 140.<br /><br />Since the correlation is not perfect, and some studies based on the CAT seem to indicate a correlation of .80 of achievement to intelligence in the UK we can expect a true minimum of 129.6 and a true median of 132, but assuming these are mathematics students we can give even further generosity because the correlation between achievements in mathematics and IQ is closer to .85 leaving us with a minimum of 131.45 and a median of 134.<br /><br />This is much more in line with empirical findings the average IQ of Cambridges faculty, which is presumably mostly composed of Cambridge graduates.<br /><br />It would be very useful if we had actual empirical research on Cambridges Undergraduate population thoughGypsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11912519890362920357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-62803599735936540902012-10-30T11:40:52.834+00:002012-10-30T11:40:52.834+00:00Your remarks regarding Oxbridge remind me of an un...Your remarks regarding Oxbridge remind me of an unfortunately anonymous comment I read in the Varsity newspaper (from Cambridge University) some twenty five years ago. <br /><br />This unknown wit was reported to have said: "The search for extraterrestrial intelligence? I would settle for intelligent life at Cambridge."<br /><br />That about sums the place up for me as it was in the late eighties. I wasn't impressed.<br /><br />Perhaps your conscientiousness theory explains my experiences there, somewhat.Valentine Cawleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03086966474154914172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-50204224719288589822012-02-16T07:18:40.662+00:002012-02-16T07:18:40.662+00:00@C - I certainly agree. At the time I wrote the ab...@C - I certainly agree. At the time I wrote the above I had not extended my analysis to include Conscientiousness, which is heavily selected for at the expense of IQ - esepcialy by an ever increasing emphasis on 'course work (often copied-work). <br /><br />Furthermore UK universities openly and explicitly favour women, low SE Class, and non-natives; which (with the mixed exception of increased admission of Chinese) reduces peak, and probably average, IQ. Furthermore there is so much cheating allowed in UK school examinations that the system (for the past 20 years or so) selects for undetected cheating. <br /><br />Average IQ probably reached its peak in elite UK universities c. 1950 and has been dwindling since, and declining rapidly for a couple of decades.Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-19582476465759317892012-02-16T06:26:59.953+00:002012-02-16T06:26:59.953+00:00From personal experience, I find it extemely unlik...From personal experience, I find it extemely unlikely that the following is true:-<br />"a university such as Oxford or Cambridge will probably have students with an average IQ more like 145; which is three standard deviations above average – or roughly the top 0.1 percent of IQ, or roughly the top thousandth of the UK population".<br /><br />As a primary strategy, they must be satisficing on IQ (whilst secondarily letting in a few very bright people who fall short on other aspects such as potential contribution to college life).<br /><br />Given that the selection comes at interview stage (since many students who are not accepted get good enough A levels), and interviews are not primarily focused on assessing sheer ability, perhaps this is not a surprise.cantillonbloghttp://cantillonblog.com/forum/noreply@blogger.com