Here's the problem with Cranial Capasity - folks started measuring in the late 1800 with an eye toward proving that Europeans and their Decendents were 'better' and 'more intelligent' than folks from the rest of the world. So it's hard to even peek at that early stuff.
I googled around to find some 'science' and quickly found a linke to David Duke's Website ((shivers))
My best guess is that there is a tiny little correlation between baby head circumference and IQ within any particular group or gender. (Males who are destined to be 6 feet tall tend to have larger heads than females who's parents are both 5 feet tall, yes?)
One of the things that is sad, but must be faced, is that some of the US elite back about 100 years
(think 1870s, the Guilded age, Andrew Carnegie)
was 'into' eugenics, and wanted to 'improve' humanity by encouraging the smart successful ones to breed, and some went as far as to try to discourage the 'less desirable ones' from breeding (think of our Dear Margret Sanger - who did a lot of good, but we would be appauled, I think, to listen to her at the dinner table.) And some went farther....((double shiver))
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_DarwinismI read a book recently that pointed to the connection between the eugenics movement in England and the US and the theology of Nazi Germany. ((tripple shiver))
Anyway - lots of the money to fund early work on IQ came from those optomistic and naive times. So when you mention IQ to a teacher and he or she looks at you coldly, as if you are trying to commit a perverted crime of some kind, you are feeling the cold wind of those earlier times - even if the teacher themselves isn't consiously aware of the history.
It would be much more comfortable to 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' and decalare that every child is gifted, than to have to take on that whole history and carefully pick through what we need to benifit from and what we need to stand up against. That's what I did, and it worked ok, until my son got to school age and I saw the suffering he had to face at such a young age. That was enough to motivate me to get out tweesers and start thinking about this ugly tangle -
Here's what I have figured out so far:
I believe that IQ test are measuring something real.
The best measure of 'if a child needs advanced work at school' is to set up the system so that every child get a chance to do the advance work and see how they do. Until we get there, IQs will be useful.
I believe that the IQ tests do underestimate, since they are a snapshot, but that it's quite rare that they overestimate.
I have met many people with amazing and delighful gifts that aren't measured by IQ tests. This is to be expected, since humans are so complex.
I don't support forced sterilization.
I believe that schools should be set up to teach all the children, not just the 99%.
I believe that personal freedom is more important that 'improving the species.' We get to pick who we mate with, ok? AND how many children we have.
I do believe that gifted people will often feel most complete when they spend at least some of their social time with other gifted people.
I believe that every child IS a gift, and that no one can know what the potential of any individual child is until they grow up and see what they will do with their lives.
I believe that the choices a young person makes has more to do with their success in life than their 'potential.'
I don't think it's useful to tell a certian group of children that 'the future depends on them' and not tell the rest of the kids the same thing. We had enough of that crazy talk during the Cold War, eh?
I believe that it the job of the parents - and the culture - to teach character.
For now, if parents need to also take on the job of overseeing education of their own child, then they must do so.
One way that children build character (not the only way) is by challenging themselves (or having the enviornment set up so that they are challenged) to learn material that is personally challenging.
Enough Ranting for now - Yes my Best GirlFriend called DS 'Charile Brown' when he was a toddler due to his headsize.
And BTW - I do come from a family of large headed people, not strickly correlated for IQ on a one to one basis, and I'm only 'large' not 'extra large' like my mom, DH, DS, and my mom's dad. Perhaps I was attracted to my DH, or at least not appauled by his circumference, because I was accustomed to it. ((shrug)) Who knows?
Grinity
