Re:Is there a general factor of intelligence?
by photochemsyn on Friday March 25, 2022 @02:25PM
(#30805511)
> "Anyone who has actual and nontrivial experience in teaching (say, over 50 students over at least few months) will tell you this simple empirical fact: some people just “get it” much easier and quicker than others. The only way to escape this reality is to sort people by mental ability, so that you only see people in the same ability bracket, but that’s just it, an escape."
Consider learning how to throw a ball. Do some new students 'just get it' - or did their parents spend hours tossing a ball with them previously? Point being, those anecdotes about students who just get it don't factor in variables like earlier childhood education etc. Few people would argue that such physical skills are not eminently trainable - and clearly, mental skills are also trainable.
The question is, is there something like a clearly delineated genetic factor than makes it easier for someone to, for example, learn a new language, relative to someone lacking that factor? No real clear evidence seems to exist for that claim.
Consider learning how to throw a ball. Do some new students 'just get it' - or did their parents spend hours tossing a ball with them previously? Point being, those anecdotes about students who just get it don't factor in variables like earlier childhood education etc. Few people would argue that such physical skills are not eminently trainable - and clearly, mental skills are also trainable.
The question is, is there something like a clearly delineated genetic factor than makes it easier for someone to, for example, learn a new language, relative to someone lacking that factor? No real clear evidence seems to exist for that claim.