Thai children’s IQ levels on the rise, over 10% above 130

[Dazinoz]

News to me. Most of the people I know here seem to have an IQ around room temperature. 

[dinsdale]

Give the grade 2 test to Anutin. Maybe he could crack the 100 mark....or.....maybe not.

[Dionigi]

Somebody does not understand IQ scores. The average population IQ will be 100 if intelligence increases across the whole population the average IQ will still be 100. The world has seen an increase in intelligence ever since testing began, but average IQ is still 100. IQ tested between 121 and 130 is classed as gifted and is 6.4% of the population, as with the average, if intelligence increases across the whole population IQ of 121 to 130 is still 6.4%. IQ scores will remain constant even if the intelligence rises because of the way they are calculated. The intelligence of Thai children has risen like every other group but their IQ scores cannot have risen.

[metisdead]

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[Orinoco]

In the land where everyone passes all exams with flying colors. Lol. 

of course they are getting smarter.  

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Orinoco

[mickyr55]

Pity they can't pass it on to their parents as easily as they can the Covid. 

[khunjeff]

14 hours ago, rbkk said:

I doubt this was an international test due to the language barrier.

From the article: 

 

"The survey...is based on the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM), which are a group of individually administered tests that non-verbally assess intelligence in children and adults through abstract reasoning tasks" 

 

I know nothing about these tests, but they are supposedly not connected to language.

[RichardColeman]

May have an (unbelievable) high IQ, but they would be rated last in knowledge of the outside world

[BritManToo]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The average intelligence quotient (IQ) of Thai children is on the rise, from an average of 98.3 in 2016 to 102.8 in 2021, while 10.4% of the students surveyed have an IQ above 130, according to results of a nationwide survey released by the Ministry of Public Health’s Mental Health Department today (Wednesday).

Breaking News ............. 10.4% of Thai students cheat in IQ tests.

[Walker88]

Just a guess, but I think they used a Fahrenheit kind of scale to get the results....you know...like 40 degrees C isn't as hot as 104 degrees F.

 

One might expect, if the 10.4% above 130 was real, that the country would have produced one or two Nobel winners, or even added something---anything---to the body of human knowledge, but alas...ZIP.

[ThaiFelix]

I wonder if the test was done like when I taught here in Bangkok:  "Keep testing them until they pass.  If they dont pass before 3.30 then give them the answers".

[NorthernRyland]

12 hours ago, Lacessit said:

The way the Thai education system focuses on obedience and rote learning, with zero questioning of authority, permit me to doubt Thai kids can achieve the claimed IQ improvement.

IQ is somewhere around 50% heritable and has a hard upper bound. The black and white IQ gap in the US is still 15 points despite all the efforts made. Given that and the general state of Thai society I think national IQ is lower 90s, that is the average Thai person has the IQ of a manual labor, janitor, fast food worker etc... in Europe, Japan or Korea.

 

Some perspective on 130 IQ means. 10% of the Thai population are math majors now I guess yet they can't get simple things like electric wires along the streets installed correctly? 

 

[Caldera]

The most likely explanation for such a significant rise within a few short years is that they've tampered with the IQ tests.

 

What else could have changed? The education system is still abysmal. Maybe the Covid school closures have actually helped - less mindless indoctrination.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Caldera

[mikebell]

'IQ levels on the rise, over 10% above 130';  NONE of whom are in the police force.

[mtls2005]

Figures.

 

Schools shuttered for 2 years, IQs go up.

 

Hmm, what does that tell you about the thai education system?

 

Yes, we know the baseline was 2016.

 

 

 

 

[Walker88]

Schools closed = at home IQ tests

 

Hmmmmmm............the honor system

[Walker88]

Saw this question from the IQ test:

 

Q: You're the cashier in a shop. A customer buys something for 80 baht and hands you a 100 baht note. You?

 

a) Do the math in your head to make correct change

 

b) Grab a calculator and subtract 80 from 100

 

c) Grab a calculator and subtract 100 from 80

 

d) Tell the customer you cannot sell between 2PM and 5PM whatever he is trying to buy

 

e) Just grab some change and give it to him, as he won't know how much he is owed either

[KhunLA]

Higher IQs certainly has helped the brain dead of the western world.  

[MarcB]

... was conducted on more than 21,000 Grade 1 and 2 students...

 

As I remember from my years as a teacher, it was each year the same 1 kid who could speak English a bit who was chosen to give a speech... wouldn't be surprised the test pool was carefully selected...

 

... Complete data was only available in 61 provinces, with data in the remaining provinces incomplete due to problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic...

> in honest wording, due to the problems posed by the surveyors low IQ  ????

 

Thailand, the hub of high intelectuals

[Eric Loh]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The average intelligence quotient (IQ) of Thai children is on the rise, from an average of 98.3 in 2016 to 102.8 in 2021,

If accurate, the average IQ of 102.8 in 2021 is indeed impressive considering the highest average IQ global is 108 in Singapore and Hongkong. 

[SomchaiCNX]

17 hours ago, peter zwart said:

When the remaining 16 provinces are the countryside, we can throw this outcome in the trash.

Same as election style ????

 

[mran66]

Thailand seems to have their own scale for IQ which is understandable as othrerwise they would be offset quite a bit towards left on the distribution curve. Wonder how the 130 compares to mensa scale... Maybe 100 on mensa scale? 

[Emster23]

Oh, where to begin? Looked at a couple of those cited sites: 123 supposedly has a quick, do it yourself test (no IQ test online would qualify as a valid, reliable, culture free test... this on the level of "click bait" ads "Only people with IQ over 130 can see the red unicorn in this photo..."), another has list of high IQ celebrities.

 This SPM test... is it the Raven's SPM? They don't say, other than Quick and sloppy, multiple choice (that right there eliminates any chance at validity).

  When I was high school student teaching, one class i taught was psychology. Had section about IQ, tests, etc. To demo how useless multiple choice IQ tests are, I handed out answer sheet one day. "Where's the questions?" one student asked... "No questions. Just fill in the slots with what you think may be the best guesses." Gave back results next day, a range from may 30 to 150 IQ. The surprising result (to me) was those that had high scores were very proud, strutting about & those with low scores embarrassed. IT IS PURE CHANCE!....hahah

 In training for special education masters, much time is spent learning about validity and reliability of a wide variety of tests, including sampling bias etc. To have 10% of student population about 130 is a red flag something is off (2.1% is std for above 130).  Who administered the tests is first on my list. Regular classroom teachers of these students? Seems they would want their kids to score well and may have "influenced" results, consciously or not.

"Noting the high ratio of students with an IQ above 130....the figures reflect an inequality in Thai society and further studies are needed to tackle the gap." I reckon easier to dumb down than smart up.... Bell shaped curves by their nature show differences.... jeeze!

An ideal IQ test would have no tasks or questions that depend on prior learning. Should be equally valid if given to Bangkok person or Amazon native who's never seen a phone or TV. When reviewing tests, you do check which populations test have been "normed" to, cross checking to other accepted valid tests, etc... I found that interesting, but then again, I do have mild Asperger's.

  Stanford-Binet was the accepted gold standard for IQ tests back when I took it. Friend was getting her school psych certificate, had to give X number of tests. I got 137. I wish I had tried more, but I was watching a Monday Night Football game at the time, Miami v Buffalo.... I think Dolphins won, but could be wrong

 

[sawadee1947]

Wow, what a development.

However, the govt still remains on Low Level. ????

[khunPer]

From the article...

...while 10.4% of the students surveyed have an IQ above 130...
[ ... ]
Only roughly 2% the global population who have taken the test have IQ above 130, according to ourworldindata.org and test sites such as iqtestprep.com and 123.test.com.
[ ... ]
The minister also attributed 10.4% of the children having IQs above 130 to their families supporting their intellectual development and he urged agencies concerned to learn from these families regarding their intellectual development plans for Thai children.

 

It will be interesting to see the number of Nobel Prize winners from Thailand in the future...

 

To my modest knowledge, IQ test and calculations depends on "spread", if you use a spread on 15 - like Mensa, which is a society of people with above "high" intelligence, to be member your level shall be over 130 with spread 15 - you might have a lower intelligence- score than if the spread is higher like for example 24. Examples: If IQ=117 with spread 15; then IQ=118 with spread 16; and IQ=127 with spread 24. Some popular "for fun" IQ-tests might use a quite high spread, or I'm extremely intelligent with a score of 146.1 (5 years ago)...???????? - unfortunately the Mensa-test did not agree...????

0.2% of the World's population is said to have an IQ over 140, it's mentioned to be people like Stephen Hawkins and Bill Gates. Albert Einstein is said to have had an IQ-level of 160.

 

Less than 3% of the World's population have an IQ between 131 and 140. Mentioned as examples are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nicole Kidman.

 

About 6% have an IQ between 121 and 130, while around 12% have from 111 to 120.

 

So above average intelligence, i.e. over 110, to extremely high IQ counts for 21%-22%, but amazing Thailand has over 10% of their school children above IQ 130 in Mensa level - wow...???? - well done...????

[Enzian]

2 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

If accurate, the average IQ of 102.8 in 2021 is indeed impressive considering the highest average IQ global is 108 in Singapore and Hongkong.

I've seen that also, though it should be added that Ashkenazi Jews as a group have an average IQ of around 115; but they are only 0.25% of the world population so are often ignored. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Enzian
error

[transam]

Could be, kids of today have their heads stuck in smartphones, they spend hours tweaking their gray cells learning how to use the things, plus the games they play must also stimulate that gray matter....????

[spidermike007]

OK. Good to hear. I know there are some exceptional young folks here. Give them a chance. Stop the stifling life of convention. Improve education, encourage them to question their teachers, encourage curiosity, and allow them to excel! Only by opening their minds to the possibilities, will they do extraordinary things with their lives. 

 

 

[djayz]

There are many interesting questions that we could ask about this result, but the first that comes to mind is: what is the socio-economic background of those who scored higher than the others? 

[KhunLA]

IQ is scoring the ability to learn, not knowledge or in any way an indication that ability will be utilized.

 

USELESS except for some people to project themselves as intelligent.  The need to do so, proves the opposite.