People are getting stupider?

micmc A link would be really really nice to back up your ‘breeding’ statistics.

One of the guy's on Love Island is training to be a DOCTOR! God help us.

I agree that education is too narrow now. The Target driven Curriculum forces children to focus on their “targets”. Areas outside the core curriculum, such as art, music and even PE are seen as unimportant time wasting by many schools.
As we age we are luckily able to widen our general knowledge through reading books and newspapers, watching tv news, documentaries, travelling and just life! Older people usually have a far better general knowledge than younger people.

"Dumbing down" is not a new concept. It's been going on for years, and when popular culture is firmly fixated on what passes for entertainment, is it any wonder that "general knowledge" is the first casualty? Conversation is also a dying art, and the current standard of both spoken and written English is appalling , even from "Auntie BBC" on occasion.
At the risk of sounding elitist, I would also note that those of higher intellect who make up the professional classes are either breeding later or even not at all these days, whilst those who are perhaps less gifted in that department are still producing children, as ever. So the gene pool is weighted in their favour, with inevitable results for society at large. A depressing prospect, and I can't see it changing for the better in my time...

We are training children to pass exams - not to learn. Very sad situation to be in I think - they are not encouraged to do anything other than the curriculum dictates. I have always read to my GC and when walking with them I point out the birds/animals/trees/flowers and other 'interesting' things as we go along and encourage them to ask questions. We have had some very interesting conversations at times

I’m loving this thread. BTW, what’s that nut on top of a walnut whip called?

TerriBull
Re Joey Essex. I can assure you that it's all an act. He's amazed that people fall for it

PECS it is not people like you, it is British society as a whole that has always been anti-academic and anti intellectual. There will always be those members of the society who are not anti-intellectual, but taking British society as a whole it is institutionally anti-intellectual.

Unnecessary comment feelingmyage

I agree with posters who said that a lot of people are unaware of what is happening in the world around them. Does not mean they are of low intelligence. I do think for a lot of these so called celebrities they trade on appearing stupid as it gives them more publicity. One could argue that it was stupid to want publicity on these terms.

When my mum was in a residential home one of the girls who had just been dispensing all the tablets was chatting to me it came up that my son lived in NZ Oh she said that’s near Canada isn’t it?
We had a uni graduate at work who was going on a tv quiz she put a world map up on the wall near her desk to try and learn some countries She actually hadn’t a clue where anywhere was
I had a big world map on the bedroom wall for the kids and grandkids to look at at bedtime, by the time they were three they knew all the continents and different countries that had familiar shapes like Italy the boot, New Guinea the dinosaur, India the triangle South America the ballet shoe on points etc etc and we used to play quizzes in the car

Callgirl1’s post about her hairdresser not knowing about the Norwegian fjords reminded me that last year I told my cleaner that my family were going to Copenhagen for a long weekend. They had no idea where it was and I don’t think they had even heard of it.

MOnica I challenge your assumption that people like me, who do not value IQ tests, also do not value intelligence! Without bright able and intelligent people where would we be? What I don't like is that some people value academic intelligence higher than other equally important intelligence which the world needs just as much.

Just over 2 years ago, I was at the hairdressers, and the girl doing my hair asked, as they do, where I was going on holiday. I said we were going on a cruise to the Norwegian fjords. She said "Oh, where`s that then?"

IQ tests are definitely not an accurate test of well rounded intelligence. I do think some aspects of today's education system are not as good as it was when I was in school. I do think if you are able to afford it a better education is to be had in independent schools. We were not rich by any means when our children were in school but did without certain expensive items to pay for private education. If you were privately educated yourself I would think you would be even more convinced of its worth for your own children

British Society as a whole has never valued intellectual attainment 'too clever by half', 'two brains', 'clever clogs'. If your child is a brilliant footballer you boast about. If they are intellectually clever you keep it quiet.

Look how people dismiss IQ tests suggest they are not good measures. Yet the cleverest children are still those who get the highest scores in these flawed tests. Others dismiss IQ tests because they do not measure Emotional maturity or creativity. Why should they? They were not drawn up to measure those aspects of personality, any more than tests to measure creativity measure intellectual ability.

In this country we feel very uncomfortable if we think someone is brighter than average and do all we can to put them down.

I have never thought IQ tests were particularly valuable or important. Ones view on intelligence tests is very personal. If you have scored well on one you are more likely to value them than someone like me who has not!
Those who are judging the education system based on Love Island contestants probably need to reflect on their own IQ! Just think of who wants to be on such a programme..a small demographic surely?
Watermeadow whilst I tend to agree with your last statement I dsagree with your first! It is mssing "Some" from the beginning!

“stupider” or “more stupid”?

Young people still have an appalling lack of general knowledge, probably because they don’t read and popular culture is entirely entertainment.
The age group who read broadsheet papers and listen to Radio 4 is mostly 50+ If someone gets all their information from The Sun and television they are bound to be pig-ignorant.

I find it very odd indeed that willful ignorance is a cause for celebration. In that respect, society is pedalling backwards at an alarming rate.

I think there is a distinction to be made here between ignorance and lack of intelligence! I have noticed from when my own children were young in the 1990’s that the education system focused them on learning very specific topics with a view to GCSE and A’level results! The end point of this is that many young people passed exams and went on to take degrees but have an appalling lack of general knowledge. My eldest daughter who has a Bsc and an excellent job says that she has really noticed the gaps in her general knowledge compared to her German colleague who received a much more rounded education.
All 3 of my children are wide readers yet I believe they did not receive a good basic education from their “outstanding” ofsted secondary school this is something they have had to work on as adults and they often envy their father and I our private educations ?

Online tests are not typical of the kind of IQ test that would be administered by an educational psychologist or similar. These tests are both more intensive and extensive.

I was shopping in a supermarket recently, loaded my goods on the conveyor belt, all going well until the assistant (young man) stopped registering the items and said whats that? I told him it was a cauliflower, and he said oh I have often wondered. Make what you will of that, possibly another contender for Love Island.

On the subject of continents and countries, I saw a snippet of a programme featuring someone called Joey Essex who had previously entered my consciousness on a section of I'm a C'leb. In that he was wearing a £70,000 Rolex but confessed to fellow contestant who was admiring it, that he couldn't actually tell the time . Going back to the aforementioned snippet, in this he'd been flown to Africa, because I believe he had no idea where it is. In the clip, A Ugandan man was explaining (they were in Uganda) and it was one of many countries that made up the continent of Africa, JE then said something like "so where am I now I thought I was in Africa" the man replied "Uganda" having already explained fully where that is, to which JE then said so "where's Africa" and so it went on .

I don't watch "Love Island" but saw the extract of the conversation in print where one of the women asked "what's Brexit" Where the hell was she in 2016 on another planet???Even more worrying, allegedly she has A levels and had at least started university. The mind boggles

They certainly don’t test important things like creativity.

I worry about my bright 9-year-old grandson who has just discovered playing games in his father’s phone - when he can get it, which thankfully isn’t often. He clearly finds it addictive. He’s still a great reader and full of natural curiosity, but how long will it last when he gets his own phone? These games seem such a mindless occupation.

IQ tests rest your ability to do IQ tests. Not sure that they test anything useful!!