In academic settings, the intelligence quotient (IQ) has been used to determine things like whether or not a student would need more or less help with completing schoolwork or what classes a student should take that fit their learning style. For example, after taking an IQ test, a psychologist evaluates the results and determines whether or not the student is eligible to participate in a gifted or supplemental program. Although IQ can measure certain cognitive abilities, over the years, some have criticized the use of IQ scores and tests — believing that they do not measure other aspects of one’s life like emotional intelligence, potential success or resilience. Some suggest that emotional well-being, along with cognitive performance, could challenge the preconceived notion that IQ is solely a measure of “intelligence.”
In 1984, a new theory emerged called the Flynn effect. James Flynn published a study where he reported a 13.8-point increase in IQ scores from 1932 and throughout the 20th century — roughly a 0.3-point increase each year.
“Traditionally, IQ is a measurement of essentially processing capacity — an ability to store information and to manipulate [or] juggle it,” Dwight Wade, English CLUE teacher, said. “My belief, through experience with gifted students, is what gifted students really have, rather than a high processing ability, is awareness … A student with slow processing but a high level of awareness is gonna score much higher on an IQ test than a student who has low processing and low awareness. So really, inadvertently, I think what IQ is really measuring and should measure is awareness.”
When COVID-19 started to spread in the United States in 2020, many educators and students went to work or to class remotely. However, without a teacher in the room, students were left to their own devices and were expected to keep up with assignments and work habits. With this change to the classroom setting, some wondered if this impacted students’ ability to complete their assignments and if they were able to retain the knowledge that was presented by their teachers through a video call.
“I believe that COVID impacted some students’ functional academic standing, like their day-to-day abilities in some areas,” White Station social worker Erin Harrington said. “Were they able to read as fast? Were they able to synthesize and gather as much information from the content that was presented? Were they grasping as fast as they normally would, or did they fall into a place where they have become accustomed to turning on a computer and sitting in a space and not the back and forth [with teachers], the conversations, the exchange of information [as] they have been accustomed to … In my interactions with students, there has been a decrease in [their] academic functioning to some degree. For some students, [online learning] worked very well.”
However, people have noticed a shift in the Flynn effect. When examining a sample from the U.S. from 2006 to 2018, researchers from Northwestern University noticed that in recent years, the Flynn effect has been in reverse. By using the Synthetic Aperture Personality Assessment (SAPA) Project, an online personality test, they noticed that three out of four cognitive domains, like matrix reasoning, letter and number series and verbal reasoning, regardless of age, gender or education, had dropped. Although the study did not investigate the reason why there is a decline in IQ scores, there is an ongoing debate within the scientific community as to why the Flynn effect is in reverse.
“I wouldn’t say that IQ was impacted [by COVID]” Harrington said. “I believe that daily academic functioning has been impacted, but I can’t speak to overall IQ because … that just doesn’t waver. Your IQ, even if you’re not functioning or performing well in class, doesn’t determine if you are intellectually able to do work … [After COVID, there were some] students who felt as if their brain stopped learning somehow or there was like a pause button that was hit … I don’t believe that their academic ability or intellect has changed; I believe that the things that [the students] became accustomed to, like routine, studying, preparing assignments, rigor [and] being in that routine, had changed; and so the expectations to come back to this setting have changed; there was a divide in the ability to do so.”
As students emerge and situate themselves back into the classroom setting, this potential setback in the classroom due to the catch-up some students have to do to keep up with the current curriculum has some looking at a worsening diet, prolonged exposure to media, or remote learning; others look at the potential of environmental or mental factors that might have contributed to this phenomenon, for example, isolation or anxiety.
“[Awareness] also correlates to a peace of mind — a serenity,” Wade said. “If I have peace of mind and serenity, then I can focus on a math problem, but if I’m troubled [with] resentment, [with] fear, [or] anxiety or something [else] that disturbs me, then it’s difficult for me to focus. So I may have the intellectual capacity to solve math problems and learn science, but if I’m upset by something and disturbed in any way, [then] I don’t have the focus that’s required to do that … I don’t think it’s because the [CLUE] students are more intelligent, as if they have a computer chip that’s more powerful than other students; it’s because they have awareness. What really got them in this room is this awareness, whether it’s God-given or [developed] by their parents or who knows, but that’s really what I think sets these students apart … from other students.”
In addition to the Flynn effect, the challenges posed by COVID-19 and remote learning, one could consider the educational environment’s impact on self-awareness and intelligence. However, in light of the impact of schools on a student’s mental health, the traditional academic reliance on IQ may be reconsidered.
“Schools are kind of counterproductive to IQ because they keep students so busy from working all of the time that they don’t have the opportunity to reflect [and] be human, so sort of let their minds settle,” Wade said. “In soul terms, it’s like seeing who you are. But if I’m busy all of the time and everything is stirred up, then I don’t have a chance to see who I am; I don’t know who I am. If we live in a world where everyone else is like that too, then it’s like … ‘Man, is everyone walking around like a zombie? They’re all in a trance.” It’s like, ‘[Is] anybody awake?”