‘India is Broken: A People Betrayed' author estimates India needs 200 million jobs

[AjayGhatak]

On a side note I have spent time on IQ measurement of "gifted" kids. I felt it is more a biased art than a science. I felt they were on to something. I never could tell what was being measured

One must understand what "IQ" was originally designed to measure. Mental retardation. That was it. It is a great tool to diagnose mental retardation.

Unfortunately, opposite of mental retardation does not necessarily mean "intelligence". It could very well mean ability to do well on tests.

So, people with higher IQ could very well be folks who will do really well in IQ-like tests.

I have an 8 year old son who autistic and he is a savant. He cracks IQ tests like nuts. His last test gave him IQ of 170 for his age. Canada has this gifted child program in which he is very likely to end up. But try to communicate anything with him. It is an exercise in frustration. His IQ is very helpful in enabling him crack the test itself but for him to work in any setting he will need massive amount of behavioural training to work against his natural disposition.

The way I have finally accepted to look at IQ scores is that of inverse-Blood Pressure. High Blood Pressure is a sign of poor cardiovascular health. But low blood pressure is surely not a sign of good cardiovascular health or even good health in general. It could mean a lot of things. And not all of those things are good.

IQ is similar. Low enough IQ certainly means mental retardation and that is a problem. High IQ has too many interpretation and not all of them are good.