Can You Find The Mason-Dixon Line On This Map?
By Daniel Miessler on May 19th, 2008: Tagged as America | Education
ibm.com
We all know generalizations don’t address individuals (hence the name), but damn. I’d love to hear someone explain the North/South difference in IQ shown here. That’s just crazy.
I mean, what’s the historical reason for this? What’s the cultural phenomenon responsible? Was it the Civil War? If so, how so? And look at West Virginia. LOL. I’d appreciate someone familiar with the history letting us know what the deal is here.
Oh, and before you ask, the numbers came from the National Center for Education Statistics.
--
Interesting you decided to pick on the south and not cali. Seems like they are lower than most of the south.
Comment by Ken — 5/19/2008 @ 3:13 am
But we know that immigrants from Mexico, due to their poorer education in that country, are what cause that dip in California. It’s easy to see that cause.
The question is, what’s the cause in the east? What changed? What diverged? Why the clear line? Is it Civil War related? If so, how so?
What are the people in North Dakota doing that the people in Georgia are not? And when did that start?
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 5/19/2008 @ 3:19 am
Wow, people in Montana are really smart. Damn Canadians, stop invading our country!
Comment by ncloud — 5/19/2008 @ 12:36 pm
Question is — what is it about beer and hockey trivia that makes people so smart?
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 5/19/2008 @ 12:45 pm
“But we know that immigrants from Mexico, due to their poorer education in that country, are what cause that dip in California. It’s easy to see that cause.”
So explain Texas?
Comment by Jonathan — 5/19/2008 @ 12:54 pm
@Jonathan
Easy. They’re less liberal and hence their standards for education are slipping slower than in California where they embraced multiculturalism full-force.
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 5/19/2008 @ 1:20 pm
The first thing that jumped out is the fact that the states with the highest average I.Q. are the states with the smallest populations. But we have to factor in the southwest’s poor performance. It is either the influx of immigrants, or most likely, the weather. Long, cold winters trap people inside their homes. Reading books and listening to music and deep discussions not only ward off boredom but exercise the mind.
Assuming that the research took representative samples, Virginia could be explained because of the abundance of college-educated Federal government employees that live there.
Comment by Todd T. — 5/19/2008 @ 2:41 pm
I would point out that it’s not clear precisely what IQ measures, though one of those things that it measures is the extent to which individuals have LEARNED certain skills. Unless we understand what IQ measures, we can’t hope to fully understand the implications of the data.
Still, that doesn’t mean that we can’t look at the picture and come to some conclusions.
One of the thing that is correlated to learning is reading for pleasure. One of the things that is correlated to reading for pleasure is the number of books in the house. One of the things that is inversely correlated to this is poverty. So, we’d expect high poverty to be correlated with low IQ. I’m making no assertion about how strong we might expect this correlation to be, and I’ve not even mentioned that starting the day hungry is likely to make learning difficult.
Another thing that is correlated with learning is the value placed on education by the parents. This in turn is highly correlated with the parents having had solid educations themselves. It is true that there are MANY parents who did not receive good educations and who nonetheless understand the value of a solid education for their children. However, these parents are likely to be more poorly equipped to help their children succeed in school then those parents who are better educated. So, we’d expect the level of parental education to be correlated with high IQ. (There is a wealth component to this as well … well educated parents will tend to earn more .. and will thus be able to provide for their children in many ways - not just in the ways in which they make clear the value of education.)
Yet another thing that is correlated with learning is student attitude. Good teachers can do a lot to bring about positive attitudes toward learning, but peers have an even greater impact. Friends in school, neighbors, and so on all set the tone for students’ attitudes toward their education. When a culture does not value education, it is more difficult (but far from impossible) for the students from within that culture to succeed.
Finally, I think that Todd is right. There’s less to do in the long dark Northern winters. Perhaps this leads to more reading. One thing for certain. There is a different work ethic up there — not just among students.
Comment by Carl M — 5/23/2008 @ 7:49 pm
I agree with all of that, Carl. Environment is the kind of IQ — no doubt about it in my mind.
I actually have a buddy that thinks much of the world’s success and failure can be attributed to climate. How many successful civilizations exist near the equator vs. towards the poles?
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 5/23/2008 @ 8:15 pm
Civilization started fairly close to the equator.
The fertile crescent, Ancient Egypt, Rome, Incas, Aztecs were all closer to the equator than to the poles.
Comment by Carl M — 5/24/2008 @ 2:47 pm
Yes, very true. But perhaps where civilization can thrive and where it happened to start are two different things?
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 5/25/2008 @ 11:38 pm