Perspective: What's IQ Got to Do With It?

We are told* that IQ is a better predictor of financial income, job performance, chance of unwanted pregnancy and involvement in crime. Roughly 60% of IQ is inherited and 40% is derived from the environment in which one is raised. Experts further believe that those with high IQ are becoming separated from those with average and below average intelligence causing us to become a divided society. If this is so, should we be concerned about how to maintain high average I Q in the United States.

First, do we note a divided society? Absolutely, that is all the politicians and media talk about! “The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer” is the mantra! Could it be that one of the causes is that the smart are getting smarter and those who are not as smart are falling further behind? This is no small question in light of the radical change in structure of the job market due to globalization and the digital revolution. Jobs requiring low education are being shifted overseas or are being replaced by machines while many jobs that require a higher education are starving for properly educated and trained workers. Since there will not be enough ordinary jobs for those with less education, those with less intelligence will surely end up near or below the so-called poverty level.

Culture is a major factor impacting poverty, and we all know it. But how to fix the culture is another matter. During the past fifty years, the pillars that supported our culture for generations, in fact centuries have been severely eroded. Fifty years ago, the norm for child raising was a husband and wife living in the same home supported by a neighbor and a school system who acted as surrogate parents. Then nearly everyone went to Sunday school. During that period, a child was expected to earn self esteem, and if punished for any misbehavior in school was told by the parent that “if you think that was bad, just wait until you get home”. A generation or so ago the idea of having a child out of wedlock was so repugnant, the person was shamed, shunned or forced into a shot-gun wedding. The marriage vow “to death do us part” was taken seriously. Today the 50-70 percent rate of out of wedlock births is accepted such that a pregnant high school girl may even stay in class with her off spring. Of course the sperm donor is no where in sight, so a shot gun wedding is out of the question.

The research shows what our predecessors knew all along. A child living with a father and mother in the same house has the highest chance of being smarter, better educated, wealthier, healthier and living longer. Any other system is inferior to one degree or another. It should be obvious to us that raising children out of wedlock with no father present is the worst scenario.

What we are talking about in this blog is that in virtually one generation we have gone from a preponderance of a father and mother living together to a paucity of that. Since single mom parenthood produces the poorest environment, would one be surprised if the IQ of such progeny might just possibly be lower than average? If it is true that poverty reduces IQ, and if we do nothing to eradicate let alone retard the growth of poverty, how well will the US be able to compete in the digital and global economy in the future?

The following chart demonstrates the impact of the inherited and the environmental parts of IQ. We have keyed the quality of the environment component to the percent of out of wedlock births. The actual environmental numbers are theoretical but reflect what one would believe that children born out of wedlock would have an inferior environment to those born with two parents living in the same home. In the chart zero percent of out of wedlock equates to a father and mother living in the same home.

IQ AS IMPACTED BY
PERCENT OF OUT-OF WEDLOCK
% Out of Wedlock 0 15 45 70
High IQ
% Inherited 50 50 50 50
% Environment 35 30 20 10
Total % IQ 85 80 75 60

Low IQ
% Inherited 30 30 30 30
% Environment 35 30 20 10
Total % IQ 65 60 50 40

In sum it shows that a child that inherits a high IQ might survive the poor environment, especially if there is a mentor along the way. On the other hand, the child that does not inherit a high IQ is going to have a very hard time climbing out of poverty unless they have a supporting father and mother. Moreover, IQ levels will probably get worse as those coming from poor environment have children.

If poverty is the cause of poor environment and if poor environment affects IQ negatively, and if reduced IQ makes it more difficult for those in poverty to rise to higher income levels, don’t you think that we all ought to be concerned and wonder what we can do about poverty? Instead we are paying people to stay home and not work. This runs counter to nature, and is wrong. Today, we have 15% or 50 million of the US population living below the poverty level and the number is growing. Meantime, our government is going broke spending a trillion dollars per year supporting programs that produce no positive results.

Now, imagine what the economic growth might look like if the government got out of the way of private enterprise and employers invested in job creating economic activity? We have such an opportunity! Because we have the lowest cost energy in the world, manufacturing and the jobs it can create can and would return to the United States.

But wait, Obama doesn’t want that. Unilaterally he plans to place a 30% surcharge on our energy which will wipe out that opportunity. Sadly, for all of their hand wringing about this problem, Obama and the progressives really don’t want to change anything because those getting government handouts tend to vote for them.




*From” The Bell Curve: “Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life” a book by Charles Murray and Richard J. Herrnstein released in 1994.