Intelligence一a Changed View

Intelligence wasbelieved to be a fixed entity,some faculty of the mind that we all possess andwhich determines in some way the extent of our achievements.its value

therefore,was as apredictor of children's future learning.If they differed markedly in theirability to learn complex tasks, then it was clearly necessary to educate them

differently and theneed for different types of school and even different ability groups withinschool was obvious.Intelligence tests could be used for streaming children

according to abilityat an early age,and at 11 these tests were superior to measures of attainmentfor selecting children for different types of secondary education.

2.Today,we arebeginning to think differently. In the last few years,research has thrown doubton the view that innate intelligence can ever be measured and on the very

nature ofintelligence itself. There is considerable evidence now which shows the greatinfluence of environment both on achievement and intelligence.Children withpoor

home backgrounds notonly do less well in their school work and intelligence tests but theirperformance tends to deteriorate gradually compared with that of their more

fortunateclassmates.

3.There areevidences that support the view that we have to distinguish between geneticintelligence and observed intelligence.Any deficiency in the appropriate geneswill

restrict developmentno matter how stimulating the environment. We cannot observe and measure innateintelligence,whereas we can observe and measure the effects of the

interaction ofwhatever is inherited with whatever stimulation has been received from theenvironment. Researches have been investigating what happens in thisinteraction.

4.Two major findingshave emerged from these researches.Firstly,the greater part of the developmentof observed intelligence occurs in the earliest years of life.It is estimated

that 50 percent ofmeasurable intelligence at age 17 is already predictable by the age of four.Secondly,the most important factors in the environment are language and

psychologicalaspects of the parent-child relationship.Much of the difference in measuredintelligence between "privileged" and "disadvantaged"children may be due to the

latter's lack ofappropriate verbal stimulation and the poverty of their perceptual experiences.

5.These researchfindings have led to a revision in our understanding of the nature ofintelligence.Instead of it being some largely inherited fixed power of themind,we now

see it as a set ofdevelopment skills with which a person copes with any environment. These skillshave to be learned and,indeed,one of them is learning how to learn.

6.The modern ideasconcerning the nature of intelligence are bound to have some effect on our schoolsystem. In one respect a change is already occurring. With the move

toward comprehensiveeducation and the development of unstreamed classes,fewer children will begiven the label "low IQ"which must inevitably condemn a child in his

own,if not society'seyes. The idea that we can teach children to be intelligent in the same waythat we can teach them reading or arithmetic is accepted by more and more

people.

Paragraph5__________

A.Main Results ofRecent Researches.

B.Popular Doubtabout the New View.

C.Effect ofEnvironment on Intelligence.

D.Intelligence andAchievement.

E.Impact on SchoolEducation.