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Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

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A view of a hallway inside of an archive lined with bookshelves.

On the Dark History and Ongoing Ableist Legacy of the IQ Test

How research helps us understand the past to create a better future.
by Pepper Stetler via Literary Hub on August 23, 2024
Hillary Clinton speaking about early childhood development.

The Mismeasure of Minds

25 years later, The Bell Curve’s analysis of race and intelligence refuses to die.
by Michael E. Staub via Boston Review on May 8, 2019

Sam Harris, Charles Murray, and the Allure of Race Science

This is not "forbidden knowledge." It is America’s most ancient justification for bigotry and racial inequality.
by Ezra Klein via Vox on March 27, 2018
Title card for "Legacies of Eugenics" series, with a drawing of a form board for teaching shapes.

Trumpian “Common Sense” and the History of IQ Tests

On the troubling history of IQ tests and special education.
by Pepper Stetler via Los Angeles Review of Books on May 8, 2025
A standardized test and a pencil, with answers bubbled in.

The Rotting of the College Board

Testing is necessary. The SAT’s creator is not.
by Naomi Schaefer Riley via Commentary on November 13, 2024
House Energy Committee Chairwoman Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) speaks during a subcommittee hearing about the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic on Feb. 8.
partner

The Eugenic Roots of ‘Quality Adjusted Life Years,’ and Why They Matter

Why a powerful House Republican wants to ban a common insurance practice.
by Pepper Stetler via Made By History on March 8, 2023
Oxford University.

Elite Universities Gave Us Effective Altruism, the Dumbest Idea of the Century

The result has been reactionary, often racist intellectual defenses of inequality.
by Linsey McGoey via Jacobin on January 19, 2023
Student completing standardized test

The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing

From grade school to college, students of color have suffered from the effects of biased testing.
by John Rosales, Tim Walker via National Education Association on March 20, 2021

Jefferson, Adams, and the SAT’s New Adversity Factor

Discussions of admissions to élite colleges are built around the idea that somewhere around the next bend is the right way to do it.
by Nicholas Lemann via The New Yorker on May 23, 2019

The White Man, Unburdened

How Charles Murray stopped worrying and learned to love racism.
by Stuart Schrader, Quinn Slobodian via The Baffler on July 4, 2018

The Unwelcome Revival of ‘Race Science’

Its defenders claim to be standing up for uncomfortable truths, but race science is still as bogus as ever.
by Gavin Evans via The Guardian on March 2, 2018
Friedrich Hayek

Hokey Cowboy: Is Hayek to Blame?

Hayek suspected that nothing about the vindication of neoliberalism was likely to be straightforward.
by David Runciman via London Review of Books on May 22, 2025
Elon Musk holds a chain saw as he shakes hands with Argentine president Javier Milei at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The Method in the Far Right’s Madness

How today’s far right manages to combine the call for economic freedom with pseudoscience about natural hierarchies of race and IQ.
by Quinn Slobodian, Bartolomeo Sala via Jacobin on April 13, 2025
Headshots of Charles Murray, Friedrich Hayek, and Elon Musk in front of a red backgrounds.

Free Markets and Fixed Natures

How neoliberals fell in love with “human nature”—the glue that still unites the divergent factions of the new right.
by Quinn Slobodian via Boston Review on April 9, 2025
Iodized salt.

How the Arrival of Iodized Salt 100 Years Ago Changed America

On May 1, 1924, the first iodized salt appeared on shelves, quickly solving an iodine deficiency crisis that plagued the northern U.S. “goiter belt.”
by Ray Cavanaugh via Retropolis on May 1, 2024
Elon Musk's face edited onto Apple advertisements.

A Bullshit Genius

On Walter Isaacson’s biographical project.
by Oscar Schwartz via The Drift on March 12, 2024
Children in a Head Start classroom look out a window at others in the playground.
partner

America Already Knows How to Address Child Poverty

The history of Head Start shows that child poverty is a choice.
by Michelle Bezark via Made By History on October 5, 2023
A Silicon Valley office building.

Better, Faster, Stronger

Two recent books illuminate the dark foundations of Silicon Valley.
by Ben Tarnoff via New York Review of Books on August 31, 2023
Illustration by Cristina Spano, picturing rulers and colorful shapes and designs coming out of the neck of a collared shirt

The Origins of Creativity

The concept was devised in postwar America, in response to the cultural and commercial demands of the era. Now we’re stuck with it.
by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on April 17, 2023
Cartoon of ghosts surrounded by environmentally destructive technology.

The Palo Alto System

A new history dispenses with the sentimental lore and examines how Palo Alto has long been the seedbed for exploitation, chaos, and ecological degradation.
by Jonathan Lethem via The Nation on April 17, 2023
Collage of DNA sequence and scientists, reading "Your Child's IQ: What Role Does Heredity Play?"

Losing the Genetic Lottery

How did a field meant to reclaim genetics from Nazi abuses wind up a haven for race science?
by Padmini Raghunath via Distillations on April 6, 2023
Bobby Seal and Huey Newton standig in front of a Black Panther Party sign

How Huey P. Newton’s Early Intellectual Life Led Him To Activism

The role of family in Huey P. Newton's educational journey.
by Mark Whitaker via Literary Hub on February 13, 2023
Illustration of the Supreme Court and a school house mirroring each other. The Supreme Court sits atop a dollar bill, and the school house is upside down on the other side of the bill.

The Racist Idea that Changed American Education

How a landmark Supreme Court decision was shaped by the racist idea that poor children can’t learn.
by Matt Barnum via Vox on February 13, 2023
Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts shaking hands at Super Bowl 57.
partner

It Took Until 2023 for Two Black QBs to Start in a Super Bowl. Here’s Why.

Ideas dating back to slavery have minimized opportunities for Black quarterbacks in the NFL.
by Kate Aguilar via Made By History on February 12, 2023
Opened standardized test booklet with pencil on top.

Can Standardized Testing Escape Its Racist Past?

High-stakes testing has struggled with overt and implicit biases. Should it still have a place in modern education?
by Deborah Blum via UnDark on December 14, 2022
Photo collage of different families interspersed with population charts, census data books, and maps

The Story of Families, Wrested From Big Data

Records tell the story of the decline of the patriarchy, marrying young, and pandemic fallout. Digitizing the data could reveal even richer tales.
by Eryn Brown, Steven Ruggles via Knowable Magazine on July 15, 2021

When Good Scientists Go Bad

Science doesn’t make you magically objective, and it’s not separate from the rest of human experience.
by Maki Naro, Matthew Francis via The Nib on May 15, 2019

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