This week in class we discussed the relationship between culture and intelligence. The intelligence test we took in class showed us how biased intelligence tests can be. The questions that pertained to the BITCH (Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity) showed that in different cultures words and holidays have different meanings. This test was created because people thought intelligence tests were biased, so blacks made a test they knew all blacks would score well on. The rest of the questions on the test were from the CRUST ( Cultural Regional Upper-Crust Savvy Test). These questions were geared towards upper class white citizens, asking questions about diamonds and fancy dinner parties. The examples of these two tests show that there is no such thing as a culturally free or culturally fair test. It is hard to make or take an intelligence test without having your own biases influence the answerers or the questions on the test.
I agree that there is no such thing as a culturally fair intelligence test. The sample questions on the BITCH were extremely relient on the context of the mid 70's for the black community when it was created. I believe intelligence tests will always have a bias purpose, but these tests can always be improved.
ReplyDeleteI think the most culturally unbiased way to test intelligence is to teach things the same way in different cultures and then test students. However, environmental factors can always affect how a student may retain that information. For example, if I teach an inner city school and a school in the suburbs the same material the same way then there will still be differences. The inner city school may have distraction and disruptions during class and the school in the suburbs may have quieter classes and an easier environment for learning.
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