A very interesting and true observation. MGK
> When I was in the army, I received the kind of aptitude test that all > soldiers took and, against a normal of 100, scored 160. No one at the base > had ever seen a figure like that, and for two hours they made a big fuss > over me. (It didn't mean anything. The next day I was still a buck private > with KP - kitchen police - as my highest duty.) > > All my life I've been registering scores like that, so that I have the > complacent feeling that I'm highly intelligent, and I expect other people to > think so too. Actually, though, don't such scores simply mean that I am > very good at answering the type of academic questions that are considered > worthy of answers by people who make up the intelligence tests - people with > intellectual bents similar to mine? > > For instance, I had an auto-repair man once, who, on these intelligence > tests, could not possibly have scored more than 80, by my estimate. I always > took it for granted that I was far more intelligent than he was. Yet, when > anything went wrong with my car I hastened to him with it, watched him > anxiously as he explored its vitals, and listened to his pronouncements as > though they were divine oracles - and he always fixed my car. > > Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an > intelligence test. Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, > almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I'd prove > myself a moron, and I'd be a moron, too. In a world where I could not use > my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate > or hard, working with my hands, I would do poorly. My intelligence, then, > is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact > that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the > rest as an arbiter of such matters. > > Consider my auto-repair man, again. He had a habit of telling me jokes > whenever he saw me. One time he raised his head from under the automobile > hood to say: "Doc, a deaf-and-mute guy went into a hardware store to ask for > some nails. He put two fingers together on the counter and made hammering > motions with the other hand. > > "The clerk brought him a hammer. He shook his head and pointed to the two > fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He picked out the > sizes he wanted, and left. Well, doc, the next guy who came in was a blind > man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose he asked for them?" > > Indulgently, I lifted by right hand and made scissoring motions with my > first two fingers's. Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed raucously and > said, "Why, you dumb jerk, He used his voice and asked for them." Then he > said smugly, "I've been trying that on all my customers today." "Did you > catch many?" I asked. "Quite a few," he said, "but I knew for sure I'd catch > you." > > "Why is that?" I asked. "*Because **you're so god damned educated, doc, I > knew you couldn't be very smart." > > *And I have an uneasy feeling he had something there. > > -- To unsubscribe, reply using "remove me" as the subject.
