Quote:
Originally Posted by Baler
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Weren't IQ tests deemed racist?
edit: mental acuity isn't the same as what the average person thinks of an intelligent.
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Yes. Historically not just intelligence tests, but in fact any form of test (including stuff like the SATs) have been shown to be biased in favor of people who are more similar to the test's creator(s).
This is a simplistic example, but say you're a white professor from Harvard writing a test: you might think nothing of adding a question involving yachts. But if you're a student from a disadvantaged background you might have a harder time answering that question than the white kid from the nice part of town who goes yahting with his family.
There are also more directly racist tests, like the literacy tests applied to keep Southern blacks from voting. Such tests weren't inherently racist (they were just reading tests), but the racist part was that the white voters didn't have to take them.
Then there's also the (scientifically bogus) "science" of phrenology, and I'm sure there've been other racist intelligence stuff beyond that.