The result of a scientific case study, that growth in education is influential to the cognitive development of a human, is well known to all. However, how much increase in your academic degrees can increase your intelligence is quite a complicated question. A conceivable, most highly educated person like to believe that education makes you more intelligent and indirectly offers more online exam help.
This argues that youths who complete their college or university education tend to be smarter. If so is the case Mark Zukerberg, the owner and developer of the multimillion-dollar company, Facebook, would have completed his education at Ivy school. And so would have Bill Gates of Microsoft or Steve Jobs of Apple. Evidently, all three are dropouts. So, does education really boost intelligence? Let’s find out.
The Study…
A friend of mine, a psychology researcher, once told me about a study. So let’s share that with you to get a different perspective on the topic. Stuart J. Ritchie ( from the University of Edinburgh) and Elliot M. Tucker-Drob (from the University of Texas) conducted a meta-analysis with the results of 28 studies to find a solution to this problem. More than 600,000 humans participated in the research. Collecting the data, the psychologists got a rough estimate of how much an extra year of education can increase a participant’s intelligence quotient. He said that they rated the research score between 1-5 points.
To recognize the result, they needed some context. Richard Haier, professor emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, once mentioned that it was a complicated, advanced, and statistical study. Professor Haier was convinced in his mind that the results could lead to a lot of misunderstandings.
The Assessment…
First of all, the assessment result on the Intelligence quotient varied with the type of study. Ritchie, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Edinburgh, and Tucker-Drob, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, explored three types of study that produced three distinct estimates. As far as I can remember, my friend mentioned that this professor research scholar duo conducted studies where:
- They took the cognitive tests of participants who differed in their academic degrees. It means that some dropped out of school; some completed their education, while others rejoined a year or decade later.
- A change in academic policy like an escalation of the mandatory academic level caused some students to stay back in school for a few long years
- The students who joined a class lower than they should due to age cut off were compared with those who had not
Professor Ritchie also stressed that all of the participants above 6 used one or the other form of cognitive test. It meant calculating the vocabulary, memory, verbal and nonverbal reasoning, or different abilities. Then, they totaled each category’s results where the intelligence quotient hiked by one point, two points, and five points with each additional year of schooling.
The Result…
Professor Haier is also an editor of the journal Intelligence, where Ritchie and Tucker-Drob probably still are also on the board of editors. They discussed with my friend that the outcomes were not questionable within the field, but it was suspected over the years.
It was still ambiguous how education contributes to the increase in the intelligence Quotient or whether the additional education in the school’s effects in the intelligence quotient increase. However, don’t think that a four-year college degree will increase your intelligence quotient by 20 or 30 more points.
However, he urged us to keep in mind that Intelligence Quotient and general intelligence are not the same. Haier pointed out that intelligence and general intelligence are each other’s attorneys.
Intelligence Quotient
Intelligence quotient is a valuable metric, but it can never measure intelligence directly. Education may improve a specific skill that may impact the intelligence quotient. But it does not widen the horizon or elevate cognitive development in general.
Now, one question came out of my mouth directly. If the standard intelligence quotient is 100, will a gain of 1 or 2 points make any difference in the real world? To this, my friend reiterated what friend Professor Ritchie told him. He said if a person comes across an accident and injures his head, causing a loss of 1 or 2 intelligence quotient points, there won’t be a huge difference. Having said that, Professor noted that some previous research showcased that the intelligence quotient is related to job efficiency and performance. However, more research has to be conducted to determine if so is the case. A little more intelligence than what every person has would mean fewer accidents via higher efficiency. It would have saved a lot of money on a societal scale.
Coming back to today’s date, Psychologist Jonathan Wai commented in his article that short-term programs are likely to have any practical impact on the Intelligence Quotient. I may raise it by just a few points if one spends a year’s worth of money on education.
Wrapping up
The latest reports from psychologists insist that though intelligence is highly influenced by genetics – it does change. Everyone may not support Professor Ritchie’s statement or the world’s psychologists, but his opinions suggest there is no definite result in this regard. The most potent evidence to support an idea is yet to be found.
