Testing Times

So here we are again, hurtling toward the end of the week.  To be honest, I won't be sorry to see the back of this particular week.  It's seen me having to waste time dealing with eBay 'sellers' who are happy to take my money but seemingly reluctant to actually send the goods, (oh, one of the two clowns says he's sent the items, but not even second class post takes nearly two weeks to arrive, particularly as he is only twenty miles away).  It is the sort of thing to put you off using eBay for good.  On the other hand I've had someone else claiming that they haven't been receiving stuff I've sent them and wanting me to fill in the forms in question and send them again.  And again.  However, after attaching a note to the latest version, telling them that I had no intention of filling in their forms again, I received an acknowledgement of receipt today.  On top of all that, the first half of this week saw some of the worst traffic for The Sleaze in over ten years, as Google referrals hit an all time low as they continued with their war against the web.  But today it started to pick up again.  Oh, and Spurs won last night.  Despite these developments its been a lousy week which has left me feeling exhausted.

None of which gets me any closer to posting about Boris Johnson and his call for people of low IQ to be gassed, which I've been meaning to talk about all week.  Not that he actually advocated the culling of society's less fortunate members in his Maggie Thatcher Milk Snatcher speech the other day.  Although he might as well have, judging by the reaction.  The problem was that, for a self-styled 'intelligent person', Boris failed miserably to get across his point, which was nothing more than the usual tired old reactionary mantra that economic and social equality is impossible as people themselves aren't equal in their innate qualities and abilities and that trying to help the less abled too much holds back the truly gifted.  Boris' mistake was in invoking the notion of IQ as a measurement of intelligence and then linking the possession of a higher IQ with material success.  The problem is that all an IQ test really measures is how good you are at taking IQ tests.  In reality IQ tests (and I've taken a few myself out of curiosity, yielding a range of scores from - as I recall - 131 to 120, none of which prove anything about my intelligence), are nothing more than middle class mental problem solving exercises.  Which some people might have an aptitude for, but others might not.  In truth, we all know that intelligence manifests itself in many different forms: a skilled motor mechanic, for example, might not be able to score highly at an IQ test or answer the questions on University Challenge, but, in addition to a range of manual skills, they'll be able to analyse complex mechanical problems, then rectify them.  Which requires a kind of intelligence which, say, an Oxford classics educated politician probably doesn't. 

As for Boris' complaint that the 'gifted' are somehow disadvantaged because the less abled are given so much help, I would say that it was idiotic and beyond contempt, but I think it needs addressing in a bit more detail, as it is an increasingly frequent right-wing whine used to justify cutting welfare and education spending.  Most obviously, it is contradictory - if these natural elites that Boris believes exist are truly 'gifted' than they don't need help to succeed.  Surely they are natural-born winners?  Indeed, based on my (admittedly limited) teaching experience, the most able students in any class were likely to succeed and achieve high exam grades regardless of how much attention I gave them in class.  In fact, I could have been the world's worst teacher and they would still have done well.  It is the average and weak students who need the help and encouragement.  They are the ones a good teacher can make a difference to by nurturing the abilities they have and showing them that they can overcome the things that hold them back - often just a lack of confidence - and achieve decent grades.  Not, perhaps, grades as high as the really gifted students, but still good grades.  Which brings us to the whole concept of 'success'.  Clearly, Boris thinks this is measured primarily in material terms.  However, most of us know that success is always relative, it can be measured by many different criteria, not just money and possessions.  Or even exam results.  Especially IQ test results.