Comments on: Murray on Education

By: Charul

Charul — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 22:59:23 +0000

An excellent collection of essays. Truly worth the term brain candy. However, just to play devil’s advocate, Murray’s fundamental premise is intelligence as established by IQ. I cannot bring myself to agree to the fact that IQ is a complete, immutable and 100% accurately measurable characteristic. Given the inherent imperfection in this characteristic, it would be hazardous to segregate developing children into buckets especially since large numbers would be on cusps. Having said that, I do agree with the general sentiments of the essay and it really brings out the advantages of recognizing the public good that can be effected (and *is* generally effected) by the highest IQ individuals in any society and even more by recognizing the need for these individuals to be, above all, wise instead of smug victors in an imagined contest (as the competitive Indian society encourages these achievers to feel).

By: Atanu Dey on India’s Development » Dryden on Intelligence

Atanu Dey on India’s Development » Dryden on Intelligence — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 12:02:02 +0000

[...] Murray’s series of three articles from the Wall Street Journal mentioned in the post Murray on Education yesterday. It is important for me to note that Gordon himself “d [...]

By: SReddy

SReddy — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:40:25 +0000

The author claims that a person without a degree from a top university can walk into Google or Microsoft, show their prowess, and get a job. However, he does not explain his sources on this conclusion, and hence leaving me to wonder if this was just his hypothesis.

Just take a look at the rank and file of these companies, and you will notice how selective these places are. Most employees at these places are from the top 20 universities with advanced degrees.

BTW, the author’s “Bell Curve” book was quite controversial when it came out.

Thanks for posting the links.

By: Anand

Anand — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:47:16 +0000

Absolutely wonderful set of articles. I’d also say that these questions and discussions are very relevant from an Indian context as well.

Many of our IIT-ians, for instance, go on to take up jobs and professions completely unrelated to their disciplines in college. What’s really happened is that the entrance test seems to do the job of filtering the high-IQ types who then go through the charade of engineering at an IIT, after which the badge can be used to open a lot of doors. That’s the way it is. And there are many such parallels we can draw from an Indian context in these articles.

Education is something that has to play a pivotal role in determining how well our country will do in terms of development and progress over the next few decades. My only caveat is that we should start to think ‘training’, along with ‘education’, because the former is a very focused subset of the latter, and is a very direct enabler towards productivity. And a targeted approach towards industrializing training in our country will begin to have immediate and direct benefits!

By: santhi

santhi — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:09:14 +0000

How true ! If only we could get the human mind to be more accomodative and less competitive, shrug over the “done things” and look at other paths..

By: Sarat

Sarat — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:33:31 +0000

Brain Candy, True. Good readings on the wwww inspires feelings similar to what you have described in the first paragraph (a friend of mine likes to call it as an ‘intellectual orgasm’!).
The third piece is especially pertinent and Murray writes so brilliantly about this oft ignored subject that its difficult to say more.Also, IQ is a limiting factor in learning something or becoming an expert in something. I dont think practice alone can make anyone an expert. (http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/02/21/how-to-be-an-expert/)
Even people with very high IQ are prone to suspension of thought but this is something where right education might help. Btw, do you know about Germany’s education system?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany