The local meteorologists are calling for snow tomorrow ... but it has been snowing at our house for the past hour and a half! (and no, I don't want to hear from all of you that live in places that have snow all winter long.) It's far too warm to stick of course, but we love watching it fall all the same. Zakiya is home sick today, so we have been eating chicken noodle soup and staying warm by the fire.
This is the second study I have seen that links birth order to IQ. The higher you are in the order, the higher your IQ, or so says the study.
I can certainly see how this would hold true across a wide spectrum. I believe the prior study showed that the more children in a family, the worse they performed on IQ tests. And that is all fine ... except for those of us that happen to be the youngest!
I guess my big problem with these studies, or really with the news articles that bring the studies into the public eye, is that they have headlines that read like "eldest siblings perform better on S.A.T." How is this helpful to anyone? If I am starting a family, do I decide to have only one child? If I have more than one child, do I assume that the younger siblings are doomed to a life without college?
The AP article that was circulating in papers said that there was a 2.3 difference in IQ over the next sibling, and an additional 1.1 difference with each subsequent sibling. "It may not sound like much, but those 2.3 points correlate to a 15-point difference in SAT scores."
I'm sorry, but since when do either of those two numbers matter? I took the S.A.T. in 1984. My score was average. The best you could score in those days was 1,600. I scored 978, which, incidentally was the same exact score my best friend received (He was the oldest of two in his house, I was the youngest of four. He's a bank CEO, I'm a stay at home dad. We both have masters degrees.)
I know that many colleges value the SAT when evaluating someone for admission, but does it really say anything about your character? Does it really tell them you are going to be a good student? I am the only member of my family to earn a 4 year degree, let alone a masters. If my siblings and I were to sit down today and take an SAT, I would probably earn the best score. This is probably also true of an IQ test, but it doesn't really say anything about intelligence, character, or heart. What it says is that I know how to take a test.
Charlie Rose started a series yesterday in which he is interviewing all of the 2008 Presidential candidates. Mike Huckabee was on last night. Rose does an excellent job getting to the root of all the key issues. It's refreshing to hear a candidate talk for an hour about what they believe, as opposed to their one minute or thirty second responses in a debate.
I was actually quite impressed with Huckabee. Although he is a devote Evangelical Christian, and holds some positions I might never agree with, he does have some excellent ideas about Education and the tax system. I would certainly like to learn the details of how he plans to implement some of his plans.
So, keep an eye out to Charlie's schedule and get to know your next President.
