Better Grades Do Not Make For Better Lives

In reference to my previous post about ‘performance anxiety’ are we getting overly anxious about the need to find jobs through education?

Shouldn’t education really be about experimenting and absorbing the creative ambience of college rather than merely getting grades? So much of our time is taken up with studying the best way to learn (Behaviouralism, Cognitivism, Constructivism) rather than why we choose to learn at all.

In this I am reminded of research published in the journal ‘Intelligence’ which explains why wealth and success at college may well be incompatible.

Dr. Jay L. Zagorsky, from Ohio State University, was cited in the learned journal on the subject of IQ and wealth accumulation.

Even though previous research had linked IQ and income positively Dr. Zagorsky stunned readers with the news that, in the USA at least, the relationship between the ownership of wealth and the level of IQ may well be inverse

The study used a sample of 7403 respondents, so-called ‘baby boomers’ (those born 1957-1964)  who were interviewed  over a number of years starting in  1979. Although income had been seen, in previous studies, to rise  between $234 - $616 per annum for each extra point of IQ scored   those with higher IQs were in fact more inclined to end up in financial difficulty.

Dr. Zagorsky explained his motivation for undertaking the research;   “Most of my grandparents grew up very poor.  As a result I have spent years trying to figure out what makes people rich or poor and how these financial states can be changed.”

 The study found that income correlated positively with IQ (100 being an average score with 130 confined to the top 2 percent) however wealth (which is the difference between assets and liabilities) did not. Indeed, a higher proportion of those on high IQs have bills they have not paid, credit cards that are defunct and little or no financial security.

What does this say about education generally? Going to college improves IQ alright but those with higher IQs also tend to be poor wealth accumulators. Where does this leave wealthy socialites like  Paris Hilton?