Charles Murray Intelligence In The Classroom Analysis

544 Words2 Pages

In his article published in the Wall Street Journal, Intelligence in the Classroom, Charles Murray speaks on a topic that is not commonly addressed: Intelligence. Murray states that education is "...becoming the preferred method for diagnosing and attacking a wide range problems in American life."(Murray, 2007). He claims that many articles that you may find in today such as crime, drugs, underachievement, and economic inequality put a blame on education. While he states that there is room for improvement in the United States with education, a person's intelligence cannot be changed. Following research based on The Bell Curve model, a person at the lower end of the curve will always be limited by their own intelligence. Murray also points out that there is currently no way to permanently raise a person's IQ as any improvement will fade after only a few years. I find this to be a very thought provoking article since it can be implied that "you are who you are, education will not change that". While I do not think that this information should be …show more content…

With these students, the push in education is for college however not everyone can fully succeed in that setting. Murray's argument is that many students with an IQ of 100-115 could make a much better living in vocational training as opposed to college. It is these students who could make a nice living through a degree or certification, however the changing economy has created a large demand for craftsmen. His example of this is "Finding a good lawyer or physician is easy. Finding a good carpenter, painter, electrician, plumber, glazier, mason -- the list goes on and on -- is difficult...". It is concluded in this article that college is really only for a small number of adults who have the ability to be successful as opposed to being able to make a good living

Open Document