IQ

What is IQ?

Your IQ is, literally, the score you get on an IQ test.

That’s it.

It’s a score on a standardized test.

IQ scores are weighted and calibrated so that 100 is always the “average.” In general, average scores go up over time as the population becomes more educated (the Flynn effect), although this has slowed in recent years. These trends are statistically interesting, but also irrelevant to the point of this post, so I’ll move on.

In theory, your IQ measures how well you understand certain learning concepts, although performance can be affected by various external factors. Like all standardized tests, an IQ test can be a useful tool to assess students’ learning, to recognize what they already understand and what they may need help with or still need to work on. That’s the only real use IQ tests have.

That’s what IQ is -- a score on a standardized test. Here’s some things IQ is not:

• IQ is not an intrinsic attribute.
• IQ is not a measure of capacity for agency, autonomy, or self-expression.
• IQ is not a reflection of whether someone is capable of learning.
• IQ is not a reflection of survival.
• IQ is not a measure of worth.
• IQ is not a requirement for human rights.

Humans do not have to pass an arbitrary test to be humans. Your right to control your own destiny should not be dependent on how well you match geometric shapes to their mirror images. Your right to access healthcare while maintaining bodily autonomy does not require a proficiency in verbal analogies. All persons -- all beings who are human -- are capable of thinking, learning, and making decisions, and deserve the freedom to do so.