General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you support intelligence tests designed to keep some citizens away from the ballot box? [View all]LeftishBrit
(41,442 posts)There is no IQ test that won't discriminate to some extent against those who have not had a high level of formal education; no IQ test where training and practice cannot to some extent improve performance. Some tests are better than others from that point of view, but none are perfect - and people have been trying to come up with a 'culture-fair test' for decades. So even if there is no intentional corruption of the system, such a system is likely to favour the better-off, who are likely to have more access to education, and to opportunities for practicing testing.
And intentional corruption is very likely, once powerful groups have access to a means of excluding voters. Look at the history of how literacy tests were used to exclude black people from voting in many Southern states.
As a psychologist myself, I would like to believe that no member of that profession would ever collaborate with right-wingers to misuse results of IQ tests to keep poor people and minorities in their place. But - well - just read 'The Bell Curve'.