Teaching intelligence: Why, why it is hard and perhaps how to do it

Abstract

In spite of the documented importance of intelligence, surprisingly few colleges and universities offer courses on the topic. Three reasons are given; lack of personal experience with the range of variation of intelligence in the society (cognitive segregation), association of intelligence with elitism, and a belief that the study of intelligence is associated with racism. The most important goal of a course on intelligence is to provide evidence of the importance of the trait in society, thus combating a lack of knowledge due to cognitive segregation. The course should examine biological and social causes of intelligence. Student participation is encouraged rather than total reliance on lectures. This can be done by forming virtual discussion groups. Examples are given of topics that could be discussed by these groups. Finally, it is argued that discussions of racial, ethnic, and international differences in intelligence should be postponed to a second course or seminar, after students have acquired a reasonably sophisticated understanding of the causes and effects of intelligence. The reason for doing this is that while the study of group differences is important, superficial discussions of these issues can generate heat while producing remarkably little light.